The White-caps : a history of the organization in Sevier County

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TY OF CALIFORNIA

THE.

WHITE GARS

r

A HISTORY OF THE

ORGANIZATION

C~6UNTY

THE

WHITK-CAPS:

A HISTORY

Of the Organization in Sevier County.

E. W. CROZIER, PUBLISHER.

ILLUSTRATED.

KNOXVILLE, TENN.:

BEAN, WARTEKS & GAUT, PRINTURS AND BINDERS.
1899.

Copyrighted 1899.
All rig-hts reserved by E. W. CROZIER.

INDEX.

Chapter. I'ag-e.

I. Origin of the Organization 9

II. Plan of Work 14

III. Progress and Growth of the Order 17

IV. The Blue Bills 20

V. Warfare Between the Blue Bills and White-caps . 23

VI. White-caps in Court 29

VII. Crimes Multiply and Increase in Magnitude . . 37

VIII. A Refuge for Criminals of all Classes 42

IX. Decay and Disintegration 44

X. "A Daniel Come to Judgment" 52

XI. Some of the Results which Followed White-cap-
ping in Sevier County 59

XII. Thomas H. Davis 69

XIII. The Murder of Bruce Lewellen 81

XIV. The Murder af Eli Williamson 84

XV. Battle near Henderson's Springs 86

XVI. The Murder of Tom Gibson 93

XVII. The Murder of Aaron Me Mahon 98

XVIII. Capture of Green and Hendricks 109

XIX. Capture of George Thurmer 115

XX. The Murder of William and Laura Whaley . . .118

XXI. Molly Lillard Whaley (poetry) 133

XXII. Trial for the Murder of Laura Whaley 136

XXIII. Trial for the Murder of William Whaley . . . . 142

XXIV. Pleas Wynn 145

XXV. J. Catlett Tipton 148

XXVI. W. R. Catlett 157

XXVII. M. F. Maples .' 165

XXVIII. The Robbery of John Burnett 170

XXIX. The Robbery of Andrew Henderson 176

XXX. Whipping of Mrs. Mary Breeden and Her

Daughters 180

XXXI. Retributive Justice , 191

XXXII. Detectives Reeder and McCall 197

XXXIII. Trial of W. R. Catlett 199

446071

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

Judge T. A. R. Nelson 40

Attorney General E. F. Myuatt 56

Deputy Sheriff Thos. H. Davis -72

Assistant Attorney General R. E. Mynatt 88

Green and Hendricks 107

Cabin on the Wynn Farm 123

Scene of the Murder 128

Molly Lillard Whaley . 133

Laura Whaley 137

Lizzie Chandler 139

Pleas Wynn 145

J. C. Tipton 148

Sheriff M. F. Maples 168

Detective C. W. McCall 184

Detective C. A. Reeder . . 2co

PREFACE.

The pages of this book have been written, some of them
by active participants in the scenes herein portrayed, and
others by persons who were in a position to obtain, in detail,
accurate and reliable information.

This book is the first advance made in this section of the
country by the hardy sous of toil on the reading public, and
its capitulation may be looked for if the public should prefer
facts revealed in the plain, uncouth garb of an unstudied
dialect rather than smooth, flowing sentences and well-
rounded periods of glittering generalities based on false or
imaginary premises.

The fondness of the people for reading, aided simply by a
rudimentary education, is developing a common ability to
express in a few plain words the thoughts in our minds. And,
everything considered, having something to write about is,
after all, of more importance than the manner of writing it.

The hardy mountaineer, whose life is spent wrestling with
the forces of nature and who comes in daily contact with
nature's works, may have ideas, though in a crude state, of
more intrinsic value than he who knows only the artificial
life of the city and the intrigues and turmoils of an artificial
humanity which

" * Never uses God's name except for gain,
And therefore never takes His name in vain,''

and which finds that philanthropy converted into five per
cent, bonds is a paying investment.

Crime in the country, to a great extent, is the result of
unrestrained natural propensities— the animal in man — while
crime in the city, in too many cases, is the fruit of minds
diseased by pampered living and a false education, which

"* Hamper and entang-le onr souls and hinder their flig-ht upwards."

While some chapters in the present volume contain harrow-
ing scenes of savage cruelty, affording us a glimpse into the

6 THE WHITE-CAPS.

depths of human depravity, others exhibit those inate quali-
ties of love, mercy and truth which are slowly but surely
civilizing man and which are our only shield and protection
against the demon of evil in our nature. Especially is it
shocking to the moral sense to recognize the fact that the
cruel deeds herein related were committed in behalf of and
for the sake of "good morals."

We are taught the valuable lesson that the injunction,
"Judge not, that ye be not judged," 'should be as strictly
observed, as the commandment, " Thou shalt not commit
adultery" ; for only "He that is without sin among you" is
privileged to " first cast a stone."

Every citizen should obey the law, no matter what its defects
or imperfections, until, by the exercise of the elective fran-
chise, he can remedy those defects or imperfections through
the properly constituted authorities ; above all, should he
take care that the authorities themselves are capable, cour-
ageous and law abiding.

Of the many defects in our civil law, the " law's delay " seems
to be the most exasperating to the good citizen ; yet experience
and observation teach us that all law, both human and divine,
move along with a mysterious tardiness that puzzles our com-
prehension, unless it be that deliberation is an essential
requisite of perfection.

Thousands of years have passed since the foundations of
the earth were laid, and it is not yet completed. Nineteen
hundred years ago the herald angels shouted the glad tidings,
" Peace on earth ; good will toward men ; " yet there is no
peace, nor has been all these years, and " good will toward
men " is not the universal rule, though it is encouraging to
note individual exceptions.

A perusal of the following pages will confirm once again
the many proofs in the annals of human affairs that organi-
zation, no matter what its character, rather retatds than expe-
dites the object and purpose of law, if that object and purpose
be clemency and justice, based upon righteousness and truth.

If any organization is necessary to strengthen the weak
against the strong, the few against the many, the good against
the bad, it is only a question of time when the strong, the

THE WHITE-CAPS. 7

many and the bad will dominate and control that organization,
and thereby enslave those who originated it.

In reality, it is the individual who improves and advances;
and society keeps pace with his improvement.

The individual furnishes the brains of the world : indi-
vidual effort does the work of the world. Organization man-
acles his will power, retards his efforts and places a padlock
on his mind.

These thoughts have been suggested and are supported by
the facts detailed in this book.

A few good citizens of Sevier county, desirous of ridding
the county of a certain lawless element, and disgruntled at
the dilatoriness of legal methods, determined to take the
law into their own hands, and by summary punishment eradi-
cate the crime or exterminate the criminal. This desire led to
the formation of the order called "White-caps."

The object of this organization made it popular with some
of the better element, who aided and abetted the movement.

But, lawless in its inception, it was soon dominated
by the lawless element against which it was formed. The
good citizens, instead of restoring law and order, became the
servants and tools of disorder and mob violence.

After two years of white-capism another organization was
formed to " down" the " White caps," called " Blue Bills."

For one year longer, the warfare waged between these two
factions kept the county in a continual state of fear and frenzy.
Lawlessness was rampant. The administration of justice was
a farce. The execution of the law seemed impossible.

Finally the efforts of a single individual, brave, indefatiga-
ble and prompted only by a sense of duty, adopting legal
methods and sustained by a fearless judge and district attor-
ney, accomplished what two organizations failed to do — re-
stored good order and re-established the supremacy of the law
in the good county of Sevier.

It is to the individuality of such men — men of character,
courage and convictions — that the United States owes her
greatness, society its progress and man his advancement.

THE PUBLISHER.

Signs and Oath of the White-cap
Organization.

Passing the right hand over the right cheek indicated " I
am a White-cap." Passing the left hand over the left cheek
answered, "So am I."

Subsequently the following signs were substituted : The
challenge sign by placing the right forefinger on the tip of the
chin, and answered by placing the left forefinger on the chin.

THE OATH.

I do solemnly swear before God and man that if I reveal
anything concerning our organization or anything we may do,
the penalty shall be to receive one hundred lashes and leave
the county within ten days or be put to death. Now I take
this oath freely and voluntarily, and am willing to abide by
the obligation in every respect. I further agree and swear
before God that if I reveal anything concerning our organi-
zation, I will suffer my throat to be cut, my heart to be shot
out and my body to be burned ; that I will forfeit my life, my
property and all that I may have in this world and in the
world to come : So help me God.

THE WHITE-CAPS.

CHAPTER I.

ORIGIN OF THE ORGANIZATION.

White-capping has become a part of the history of
Sevier county, and the man who would undertake to
write a true history of the county, without devoting at
least one chapter to this subj'.ct would be guilty of an
omission unpardonable in the writer.

We do not propose to write a history of the
county, but in as much as the following chapters in this
book are all more or less connected with and traceable
to this wicked and lawless organization we deem it
proper at this juncture to give a brief history of it.

White-capping had its origin in Sevier county with a
class of people whose intentions were good ; and while
they knew it was a violation of law, they persuaded
themselves that it was, to say the worst of it, only a mild
violation, and a pardonable step to take, in order to
right an existing evil.

In Sevier county, like; all other counties, there are
citi/.en,s, whose morals aretn,otas good as they ought to ,
be; men and women whose habits are lewd and who
live adulterous lives. It is always unfortunate for any
community to number among its citizens persons of
this character. And while it is and has always been a
violation of law, in Tennessee for people to live in adul:

10 THE WHITE-CAPS.

tery, yet that 'law has not always been efficacious in
protecting the good and punishing the bad. The evil-
doer seeks in every way to evade the law and conceal
his deeds from those who are likely to be called upon
to testify against him. In this way the law is cheated.
Indictments if found are not sustained; the guilty go
unpunished and society suffers. In this regard' Sevier
county has not been an exception.

About the year 1892, certain communities in Sevier
county had become infested with lewd characters
whose conduct was very obnoxious to the good citi-
zens, and after repeated, but unsuccessful efforts by le-
gal methods to punish these evil-doers in the courts,
the good citizens became disheartened, feeling that the
law was not furnishing that protection to society that it
should. Thereupon certain persons, with good inten-
tions, but mistaken judgments and more unwise than
they then thought, began to discuss the advisability of
getting rid of the immoral characters above referred to
by some other method than through the courts — the
only legal channels.

After some consultation and discussion among a few
persons, who, if not the best citizens, were neverthe-
less, recognized as law-abiding men, an agreement was
reached to notify in writing such immoral characters
as they wished to get rid of that they must leave the
community within a certain time or they would be pun-
ished by a severe whipping laid upon their backs with
hickory withes. The notices were accordingly given
by posting them upon the doors of those to whom di-
rected and signed "White-Caps." Often, and gener-
ally, a bundle of hickory withes was also deposited at

THE WHITE-CAPS. II

the door or about the house, as an additional warning
of what might be expected to follow, if the notice
should be disregarded.

About the date above referred to, after similar no-
tices had been given to some lewd women living in
Emert's Cove in the upper end of Sevier county, which
notices had been unheeded, the first White-cap raid was
made. Some half dozen women were whipped by
masked men and notified to quit the community at
once or like punishment would follow with increased
severity. Most or all of said women did leave and went
to Knoxvile and other places, and the good people of
Emert's Cove felt that it was a happy riddence. They
spoke approvingly of the act, thinking little of the in-
fluence that such an attempted correction of evils
would ultimately have in the community.

So on the surface there seemed to be a wave of ap-
proval of the first effort at White-capping in the county,
and those who were engaged in it felt emboldened to
take a second step. But after several raids had been
made, and lone and unfortunate women whipped and
driven from their homes at night, some with little
children, there at once arose a feeling of resentment and
oposition to this method of administering punishment
even to those who were known to be living in violation
of law and whose example was detrimental to good
society. And the boldness and brutality which at-
tended some of the whippings soon brought prosecu-
tions against suspected persons. Generally these
prosecutions were commenced before justices of the
peace. By reason of the fact that the White-caps went
masked, it was very difficult to identify them with any

reasonable Certainty, but occasionally one of the parties
charged would be bound to court.

As the opposition to this new method of kukluxing
increased, those engaged in it felt that they needed
greater security from detection, and if detected or
charged with any of the offences they would be in
greater need of those who would stand by and help
them make their defences in the courts. Hence an or-
ganization was formed, known as the White-cap or-
ganization for their better protection, offensive and de-
fensive. While the writer does not know what were
the provisions contained in the constitution and by-
laws of the organization nor whether, in fact, they had
any written code of laws, yet it is known that they did
have certain rules and regulations which were to gov-
ern and control them.

Of course it was intended to be, and was so tar as
they could make it, a secret organization. Regular
initiations took place for new membership into the
mystic order. One of the chief features of the order
was the iron-clad oath, or obligation that the member
took upon himself when he joined. It was adminis-
tered under solemn and even threatening circum-
stances. When a person wanted to join he gave his
name to one who was known to belong to the order,
who proposed his name. The time and place of initia-
tion was fixed and the applicant informed. At the ap-
pointed time and place, which was always at night and
generally at the home of some White-cap the would-be
member was duly catechised by the "Chief Mogul" or
"High-Cockilorum" of the order as to his fitness for
the duties which a member of so important an order

THE WHITE-CAPS, t$

and the hazardous undertaking in which he was about
to embark, required. If after examination he was
found worthy, he was then told to stand up and let the
oath be administered. The applicant would then be im-
mediately surrounded by members of the order with
drawn pistols, two of which would be cocked and pre-
sented at his breast while the oath was being adminis-
tered. After this the right hand of fellowship was ex-
tended to the new made brother, and he was pro-
nounced a full-fledged member.

While the exact wording of the obligation has never
found its way beyond the secrets of the order, yet some
of its provisions have become well known. For in-
stance, the oath bound them tq stand by the order, and
each and all of its members and to never make known
by word, sign or token, any of the secrets of the order
under penalty of certain death. If any member violated
his obligation or betrayed the order or any member
thereof or gave information of any of their movements
or raids, then two of the members of the organization
were to be selected by lot whose duty it was, under
their oath, to put the "traitor" to death. Some of the
mysterious murders which afterwards occurred in Se-
vier county are traceable to no other source and can be
accounted for in no other way, as will be seen by read-
ing some of the succeeding chapters of this book.

CHAPTER II.

PLAN OF WORK.

After a regular organization had been effected in the
county the White-caps felt that they were now much
more secure, if not entirely protected, in their midnight
work. The whipping of men and women became more
common. The order grew in popularity and member-
ship until it had invaded several of the districts and
sections of the county, chief among these places were
the Flat Creek section, in the northern part of the
county, Catlettsburgh vicinity, Pigeon Forge com-
munity, and especially much of the county surrounding
Sevierville, the county seat. This territory includes
some of the richest portions of the county whose citi-
zens hitherto had been known to be not only the most
prosperous and comfortable in their homes, but the
most law-abiding in their walks. Even the little town
of Sevierville located in the very heart of the county at
the junction of the two Pigeon rivers, surrounded by
the wealth and culture of the county, became the very
hot-bed of White-capism before its decline and disin-
tegration. Some of the leading spirits of this faith and
order lived in that quiet little town, and it was at their
homes that many of the most noted raids were planned.

It seems that in the organization of the White-cap-
pers, and in planning and laying out the work it was
designed to do, there were two classes formed: one
known as the "raiders" and the other the "supporters."

THE WHITE-CAPS. 15

Members of the former class, as the term implies, were
to make all raids, d6 the whipping, and perform all the
duties attended with danger. While members of the
latter class who were often men of property and stand-
ing in their community, were to make bonds for those
who got into trouble and hire counsel to defend them
in the courts. In this class it is said and generally ad-
mitted, that many of the wealthiest and best known
citizens of the county were included.

There is one thing certain and that is, not one who
was arrested and arraigned on the charge of White-
capping ever failed to give bail. Bondsmen were al-
ways present and waiting to give aid and comfort to
the White-capper in his hour of extremity ; no matter
how poor the prisoner or what his character, the bond
was forth coming.

Another interesting feature in the history of White-
cap prosecutions in Sevier county is that no case is
known where a White-cap ever deserted his bonds-
men. Some who feared detection fled the country to
avoid arrest, but when once charged and put under
bond the White-capper was true to his backers and true
to his oath.

The purposes and plans above outlined strengthened
White-capism and gained for it a foot-hold which has
given Sevier county an unenviable notoriety: and
which for strength of organization and boldness in the
execution of its purposes, and perpetration of crime,
has had no parallel perhaps in the United States.

It is the purpose of this book, in the succeeding chap-
ters, to give some of the history and workings of this
organization. But as it is a secret organization, as the

1 6 THE WHITE-CAPS.

writer is not and has never been, a member of the or-
der, and as no member of the order has yet exhibited a
wilingness to reveal the secrets of the order
to us, we have not in our possession as much informa-
tion in detail as we would like to have nor as much as is
necessary to give an entirely accurate history ; yet we
can safely vouch for most of the facts herein related, as
being substantially true ; as much so indeed as the or-
dinary history.

CHAPTER III.

PROGRESS AND GROWTH OF THE ORDER.

We have briefly outlined in the preceeding chapters
the origin of White-capping in Sevier county together
with its plans and its purposes, as well as the character
of the men who gave it their sanction and influence in
its incipiency.

We have also seen how the idea of reforming a cer-
tain class of people of unlawful methods, grew and
spread from the crude notions of a very few men in a
single locality, until it had gained a stronghold in the
minds of many good citizens, and culminated in an or-
ganization whose baneful influence threatened not only
the whole of Sevier county but adjoining counties.

Now that the practice of White-capping in Sevier
county is a thing of the past and that the organization
has gone to pieces, the good people of that county won-
der how it was possible that such a condition of affairs
should have ever existed, yet covering the years from
1892 to 1896, it grew and prospered till it almost domi-
nated public sentiment.

Courts became powerless to execute the law, the
province of juries was invaded and justice throttled;
popular elections were controlled by White-caps be-
ing installed in high places. At one time it was really
popular in Sevier county to belong to this well known
organization. Candidates for high offices courted it
for its influence in approaching elections and it is

1 8 THE WHITE- CAP$.

claimed that many became actual members when as-
sured that such a step would bring to their support the
solid vote and influence of the order.

Indeed this sentiment had grown and had become so
popular that it could not be confined by county lines,
and adjacent parts of Jefferson and Blount counties
became infected with the virus that was poisoning and
destroying the very life and good name of one of the
best counties in East Tennessee.

Its membership was extended into districts north of
the French Broad river and thence into Jefferson
county where many depredations were committed by
roving bands of these night prowlers migrating from
one county into the other.

The organization reached its zenith of popularity and
strength in 1894; the whipping of men and women
were of frequent and almost nightly occurrence, and
yet the perpetrators of these cruel deeds daily walked
the public high-ways and even the streets of their towns
unapprehended and unpunished.

But White-capism was destined to have opposition.
It could not be otherwise. It was founded on a wrong
principle; its deeds like the hours of their execution
were dark and so cruel they could not be defended.

Many who at first gave it their sanction and silent
if not active support now saw their mistake and with-
drew their influence. It began to loose in public favor.
Irresponsible men had worked themselves to the front
and took charge of affairs. Men not only of bad habits
generally, but men whose lives were polluted with
lewdness and adulterous living had assumed the role of
reformers and were heading midnight mobs which

THE WHITE-CAPS. 1 9

cruelly beat and in some instances killed persons be-
cause it was suspected that they were not living vir-
tuous lives. Persons thus punished were no worse, but
often, were much better than those who had arrogated
to themselves the right to reform all who chanced to
violate either the civil or moral law.

While there was much opposition in sentiment and
feeling to White-capism in its progressive stages, yet
it was only a feeling or sentiment. Many were afraid to
talk out against White-capping, for fear of being pun-
ished for his expression of opinion. Many persons
who freely expressed their opinions unfavorable to
such lawlessness, were promptly notified that they
would be visited and whipped if such talk was repeated.
Some were actually whipped for no greater offence than
expressing disapproval of White-capping. Is it any
wonder then that an organization of such proportions
and with such bold and avowed purposes should be-
come a terror in any community?

CHAPTER IV.

THE BLUE-BILLS.

There was very little to impede the progress of
White-capping in Sevier county until an opposition
was formed known as the organization of the "Blue
Bills." Not very much is known about this band
further than its object was to thwart and put down
White-cap raids. It is said, however, to differ from
the White-cap organization in this, that it had no con-
stitution or by-laws, no officers, and administered no
oath or obligation, and they never wore masks when
on their raids.

It was composed of men stoutly opposed to the other
organization ; some from good motives and others no
doubt from selfish views. The former desired to put
down White-capping because it was a crime ; the latter
because the White-caps had either threatened them or
some of the immoral women of the county with whom
they had been associated and had agreed to defend
against the White-caps.

It was the purpose of the Blue Bills to find out what
particular night, (their raids being always made at
night) the White-caps were to make a raid, and the par-
ticular person or persons to be attacked. This point
accomplished the Blue Bills then notified their mem-
bers who were thoroughly armed with shot-guns and
Winchesters, to be ready to march against their enemy
at the designated time and place.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 21

Several sharp engagements thus occurred between
the White-caps and Blue Bills in some of which men
were killed and wounded. The White-caps also went
armed and it was understood that when they met it
meant fight or run. It will thus be seen that both of
these organizations were acting without sanction of
law, and that one was about as revolutionary in its
character as the other. The Blue Bills, however, gen-
erally claimed to either have an officer of the law with
them, or one deputized by proper authority, to arrest
all White-cap raiders and prevent them from carrying
out their plans.

Dr. J. A. Henderson, now dead, a brave and fearless
man, was said to be the organizer and leader of the
Blue Bills. He was recognized as an uncompromising
enemy of the White-cap raiders and was always on
their track. Being shrewd and cunning, he was ever on
the alert. Many times it is said they planned to make a
White-cap raid upon his home in the town of Sevier-
ville for the purpose of capturing him and punishing
him if not to take his life. But as often he caught on
to their plans, marshalled his own Blue Bill forces, met
his would-be captors on the way and put them to
flight.

Notwithstanding Henderson was a terror to the
White-caps for about two years, and they were endeav-
oring to capture and punish him during all of that time,
yet he foiled every attempt, owing no doubt to the fact
that he had a spy in the White-cap camps who kept him
informed of their movements. Being a man of large
means he boldly went into the White-cap camps and
hired one of their number to betray them into his
hands.

22 THE WHITE-CAPS.

The number of White-caps in Sevier county has been
variously estimated to be from six hundred to fifteen
hundred, while perhaps there never was more than two
hundred Blue Bills at any time.

There are two reasons why Henderson and his raid-
ers were never captured and punished by his organized
pursuers. First, he was a much shrewder warrior than
they were, and knew almost their every movement.
Second, he and his band were much better armed, and
known to be as brave as Julius Caesar, and would there-
fore die before they would surrender or be punished
with the lash.

As before stated Dr. Henderson lived in the town of
Sevierville, as did several of the leading- White-caps.
They would pass each other upon the streets and high-
ways during the day, but when night came on there was
but little travelling alone — every man who had joined
either band retired within the barricades.

The first White-cap depredations were committed in
the outlying or remote districts of the county. But the
organization as well as their nightly performances,
gradually moved toward the center of the county, and
after the Blue Bills were organized against them, Se-
vierville and the surrounding territory -for four or five
miles became the battle ground of this most novel war-
fare.

CHAPTER V.

WARFARE BETWEEN THE BLUE-BILLS AND THB
WHITE- CAPS.

While the majority of the people of Sevier county
never actively participated with either one of these or-
ganizations in their struggles for supremacy, knowing
that both were acting in violation of law, yet it seemed
that they were powerless to restore order either by their
influence or through the machinery of the courts. Many
sympathized with the Blue Bills, because they thought
any force which offered itself might be permitted to
put down the White-caps, others took side with the lat-
ter organization for one reason or another. And thus
it was the people of Sevier county for several years were
between "the devil and deep blue sea," not knowing
where to go or to whom to appeal for protection. Peo-
ple were attacked and whipped in their homes, dwell-
ing houses and barns were burned, citizens were shot
down in their houses and on the high-ways — indeed a
reign of terror prevailed.

When we consider the character of the two organi-
zations— White-caps and Blue Bills — and the bitter en-
mity which existed between the two, the wonder is, that
more of them were not killed or wounded.

To show the animosity existing between these two
belligerent forces we will refer to some of their military
movements and the hair-breadth escapes in engage-
ments and in avoiding engagements.

24 THE WHITE-CAPS.

It is safe to say here that the White-caps, though
greatly outnumbering their enemy, were never anx-
ious to meet them in actual conflict. Many of the
White-caps were arrant cowards while they all knew
the fearless character of their foe.

At one time the Sevier county White-caps had
planned a raid into Jefferson county for the purpose of
whipping an old man by the name of Jenkins, who it
was said was living with a woman not his wife. The
night was fixed and everything agreed upon. Hender-
son learned that the raid was to be made on Friday
night. He hurriedly notified a number of his followers,
and, armed to the teeth they stealthily slipped to the
place — Douglas' Ferry — where they were to cross the
French Broad river. They there waited in hiding for
them till a late hour in the night, but no White-caps
came. But the very next night — Saturday— the raid
was made. A large band of White-caps crossed the
river at this identical place, proceeded to the house of
Jenkins and demanded entrance. On being refused
they undertook to break in and were fired upon by Jen-
kins, who in turn was badly wounded by a gun-shot
from the band. He was then captured, taken and given
a severe beating and warned to flee the country.

The victors then retraced their steps and recrossed
the river at the same place. There is no doubt that if this
raid had been made the night before the White-caps
would have either been captured or a battle would have
taken place in which several lives would have been lost.
It was only averted by a misunderstanding of the time
the raid was planned.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 25

It is known that at least one of the White-caps was
wounded on the Jenkins raid as considerable blood was
left on the ferry boat that carried them over the river
on their return. This was caused by a shot from Jen-
kins' gun. The wound is not supposed to have been
serious as nothing more was heard of it. The White-
caps had their physicians who were always ready to ad-
minister to their sick and wounded.

At another time the White-caps planned a raid on
either Henderson himself, or some other parties in the
town of Sevierville. Henderson through his spy in the
White-cap camps, learned of this movement and made
ready for them.

They were to approach on the east of the town com-
ing down the river road.

Immediately after dark the Blue Bills were summoned
and with their leader at the head they moved up the
river and concealed themselves behind fences and trees
to wait the approach of the enemy. They had ar-
ranged themselves into two divisions, one some two
hundred yards above the other. The public road that
the White-caps traveled ran close to the river bank, and
the plan was for one division to intercept them in front
and when they wheeled to run, the other and upper di-
vision was to close in on them from the rear, and thus
capture them. In this way there would have been but
little hope of escape from either a capture of the White-
caps or a bloody conflict. If they had attempted to
cross the river they would have fell easy victims to the
Blue Bills' deadly Winchesters while another chance of
escape would have been through the open fields in the
opposite direction which would have left them equally

26 THE WHITE-CAPS.

exposed. On this occasion there was no misunder-
standing, or misinformation. The Blue Bills were lying
in wait and the White-caps came marching in. But just
as the latter were approaching within a few steps of the
first band arranged on their route, they spied some of
the Blue Bills and instantly wheeled an fled pell-mell up
the river.

The purpose of the Blue Bills being to capture the
"White-caps, and not to kill them unless in case of re-
sistance and conflict, they did not fire on them except
perhaps a few shots to frighten them.

About two miles up the river above Sevierville the
hills close in toward the river, leaving only the width of
the road, which is dug out of the hill, along which peo-
ple may travel. Across the road at this narrow point
there is a deep ravine or hollow through which a branch
runs and over which there is a wooden bridge. There
is no way to pass this point in the road except over this
bridge. The White-caps in their raids often'passecTEHis
place.

The Blue Bills were informed that on a certain night
they would make a raid and would pass over this
bridge. So Henderson and his men arranged for an
attack on that night.

The plan was to take up the bridge floor and then
way-lay and attack the White-caps near that point so as
to cut off all other means of escape except over the
bridge. This was accordingly done, and all the other
arrangements made necessary to carry out what would
seem to be a well laid scheme. But fortunately for the
White-caps they either did not make their anticipated

THE WHITR-CAPS. 27

raid that night or scented their sleepless pursuers and
changed their route.

It is unnecessary to say that a stampede caused by an
attacking party from ambush along a narrow road like
that described, would have been disastrous, and before
the death trap could have been discovered horses,
riders and all would have been thrown headlong into
the vortex.

It is almost incredible, yet it is true, that while these
two bloodthirsty bands were on each others trail for
over a year, only one actual engagement took place
between them, which occurred near Henderson Springs
when Helton Latham and Keeble were killed, a full ac-
count of which is fiver, in a succeeding chapter of this
book.

What occurred in that conflict which lasted but a few
moments, shows the deadly purpose that each had in
view when they started on their raid that night. But
for the fact that the meeting of these belligerent parties
was premature that night, a dozen men instead of three
doubtless would have been picked up dead from the
battle ground next morning. As stated the meeting
that night at the particular time and place, was unex-
pected. Th*: White-caps had not all arrived but were
coming in from the adjacent hills, while the Blue Bills
were on their way to where they supposed would be the
real battle ground. Be this as it may at least some of
the parties met on that fatal night, and laid down their
lives in a most tragic way, thereby adding a new chap-
ter to the history of Sevier county.

This fatal occurrence put a quietus on White-capping
for a time. It occurred about the first of November,

28 THE WHITE-CAPS.

.1894, and no White-cap outrages occurred until about
April of the next year. Dr. Henderson, the leader of the
opposition, was assassinated in his house soon after, but
his death was attributable to other causes not necessary
here to relate. It is not thought that the White-caps or
the Blue Bills, as such, either had anything to do with
it, but. the former greatly rejoiced to know that their
old enemy and pursuer was dead. The following spring
after his death new outrages broke out, but the Blue
Bills dici little or nothing to impede their progress.

CHAPTER VI.

WHITE-CAPS IN COURT.

The history of White-capping in Sevier and adjoin-
ing counties is one of lawlessness and outrages. From
the year 1892 to 1897, it held sway. One crime fol-
lowed another in quick succession. The people lived
on excitement as it were. They retired to their homes
at night not knowing but wondering what a new day
would bring forth.

During the reign of terror that these midnight ban-
dits introduced into that peaceful community no part
of their history is more interesting than that which con-
nects them with the courts.

They seemed to recognize the fact in the out set, at
least in their organization, that their mission was one of
crime and that prosecutions were certain to follow in
their footsteps. With this in view they took every pre-
caution to hide their identity and defeat all prosecu-
tions, and no part of their work was more successfully
accomplished ; for during six years, from the origin of
the organization in 1892 until 1898, not a single mem-
ber of their order suffered the penalty of the law.

Many indictments were found, but in almost every
instance they were successfully defended.

In 1892 or 1893 Sam Lanning, charged with whip-
ping one Wyatt Hill, was tried, convicted and sen-
tenced to a term of ten years in the penitentiary. He

3O THE WHITE-CAPS.

appealed his case to the Supreme Court and secured a
reversal, and on a second trial was acquitted.

Newt. Green and West Hendricks, who are now
serving a twenty years sentence in the penitentiary, are
the first members of this organization to suffer the pen-
alty of the law for their crimes. They were charged
with the murder of Aaron McMahan, convicted and
sentenced as above stated, which sentence, on appeal
was confirmed by the Supreme Court on the 18th of
November, 1898.

Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton were convicted for
the murder of the Whaleys (a detailed account of which
appears in a subsequent chapter of this book) and on
appeal to the above mentioned term of the Supreme
Court were sentenced to expiate their crime on the gal-
lows the fourth day of January, 1899.

Likewise the Spurgeon boys, charged with whipping
some old woman up in the mountains, have been con-
victed of the charge, but appealed and now await the
action of the Supreme Court.

All of these convictions in the lower courts, if we are
correctly informed, except in the Lanning case, oc-
cui*rtd in 1897 and 1898, after a revolution in public
sentiment had come and a new order of things, at least
partially, restored.

In the palmy days of the White-caps they were pre-
eminently a success in the courts.

To the casual observer it is difficult to understand the
secret of their success. In the remaining part of this
chapter therefore, we shall endeavor to give the reader
some insight into this part of their history.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 31

In the outset the White-cap realized that his mission
was a violation of law and that, if detected, he would be
punished. Therefore it vvas decided that in their crimi-
nal practices their faces should be covered with masks
so that their identity would be concealed. They accord-
ingly prepared white rags, large enough generally to
successfully cover the face and head with small holes
cut for the eyes, nose and mouth. These cloths were
tied on the head with strings in a way to make them se-
cure and were worn on all their raids. They sometimes
wore an ordinary hat, but more generally some kind of
cap made of white goods, hence the name "White-cap."
They also had regular White-cap suits, but these were
made in different styles. Sometimes after the fashion
of men's suits, and sometimes large loose gowns more
like women's apparel. At other times they would wear
their ordinary clothing, perhaps with an overcoat
turned inside out, relying mainly on the mask over the
fare to save them from detection. In this manner the
White-caps made their raids, whipped or otherwise
punished their victims and returned home.

These raids were always made in night time ; doors
of houses were suddenly battered down, the inmates
aroused from their slumbers, dragged from their beds
and generally with but little light surrounding them,
cruelly whipped and left bleeding on the spot.

It requires no further argument to convince the
reader that under circumstances like these, it is difficult
if not impossible to identify the attacking parties. In
such an ordeal one would not likely recognize his near-
est and best known neighbor.

32 THE WHITE-CAPS.

While no one but the White-caps themselves knew
absolutely who belonged to the clan, yet nearly every
one had a general idea who they were and when a whip-
ping occurred some particular person or persons were
usually suspected of doing it. If the persons punished
or any one else who was present showed a disposition
to identify the parties, warrants were sworn out and the
suspected White-caps arrested and taken before some
justice of the peace.

Sometimes the evidence would warrant a committal
to court and sometimes not. If the defendants were
bound over to court they promptly gave bond and when
circuit court met they were prepared to prove their in-
nocence.

We are informed that the White-cap always relied
upon two defences : First, the failure of the witnesses
for the prosecution to identify him. Second, an alibi.

The state had to show that they were masked to make
out its case, under the kuklux law. If masked then who
could tell who they were, beyond a reasonable doubt?
In some instances the witnesses would claim to recog-
nize the defendant by his voice, but in almost every
case, the witness would also claim that the defendant
changed his voice so as not to be detected. Then de-
fendant's counsel would argue that if the voice was
counterfeited how could the witness testify that it was
the voice of any particular person, however well known
to them by their natural voice?

If a case ever got to a court or jury, these two de-
fenses alone were generally sufficient to obtain a ver-
dict of acquittal.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 33

The White-caps, not being without smart and bold
leaders, believed in the old adage that "an ounce of
preventative is worth a pound, of cure." They
therefore set about to devise ways and means
whereby they could prevent indictments from being
found. To do this they invaded the county court and
it is said won over to their cause several of the jus-
tices of the peace who composed that honorable body.
This body appointed the jurors for the circuit court. In
this way a number of White-caps always succeeded in
getting on one or both of the juries. If they got on the
grand jury, the White-caps were happy because they
felt sure no indictments would be returned against any
of their number. But if per chance a true bill was
found then they relied upon their friends on the regu-
lar panel of the trial jury or those who may be selected
to serve on it in the usual way.

The White-caps were sworn to stand by their friends
and they did it. If one was a grand juror, it meant as a
rule no true bill ; if on the trial jury, it meant either an
acquittal or a hung jury.

They did their work and did it boldly. While the
grand jury was sworn to secresy in all matters pertain-
ing to the grand jury room, yet the White-caps knew
everything that was going on in that body. When a bill
of indictment had been acted on, it was signaled to their
friends on the outside who knew all about it before it
was reported into open court by their body. The se-
cresy and sacredness of the grand jury was thus taken
away and the country at large turned over to the mercy
of the bold and reckless men who in so short a time
had demoralized society, controlled elections, manipu-
lated juries and wrecked courts.

34

THE WHITE-CAPS.

The White-caps were fruitful of resources when a
friend was on trial or in trouble ; they never lost hope
nor ceased to work. When one of their number was to
be put on trial, not only the court house but the town
was full of these sign makers. When the officer went to
summon the jury, if he was a White-cap himself he
could of course do the decent (?) thing and soon find a
panel of good (?) and lawful (?) men. If the officer was
not a White-cap then while he would know or suspect
some of them he did not know all of them and was
certain to get some of the faithful (?) on his list. Then
while the jury was being empanneled some one of the
White-caps who had already had a conference with the
defendant's lawyer was stationed at a convenient place,
and knowing all who were either White-caps or White-
cap sympathizers, he would by some sign or token indi-
cate to the defendant's attorney whether to take him or
not.

These methods were invariably adopted in every
trial, and it is said that it was next to impossible to em-
panel a jury in Sevier county during the reign of White-
capism without getting one or more White-caps on it,
and for this reason next to impossible to convict a man
charged with White-capping.

The foregoing is not all that the State prosecutor had
to contend with while fighting a battle against White-
caps in court.

As stated in a former chapter the White-caps took an
iron-clad oath when they joined the order. This oath
bound them to stand by each other under all circum-
stances and that without equivocation. They were to
stand by them as jurors, and as witnesses. They re-

THE WHITE CAPS. 35

garded the oath that they took as a White-cap, as
stronger and more binding than the oath they took
upon the Holy Evangelist, to tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth. So when the two
oaths came in conflict, the latter always went down.
When it was necessary to save the life or liberty of a
brother in jeopardy, no White-cap regarded the oath
that he took to tell the truth. Hence it was always easy
to find witnesses to prove an alibi for a White-cap
charged of any offence. He was always at home or at
some other place with enough of his clan to prove his
innocence. He was a very poor lawyer who could not
secure an acquittal of his client when backed by the
White-cap organization in its palmy days.

The White-caps not only came into court with their
own suborned witnesses, but they intimidated state
witnesses by threatening them with vengeance if they
dared to go into the courts and testify against them.
Some persons actually left. the state to avoid being
summoned and forced to testify against White-caps.

There is no doubt that some of the foul murders
committed in Sevier county by White-caps, were com-
mitted because of what their victims had already sworn
or what they were expected to swear. These were ob-
ject lessons that were calculated to stagger the stoutest
hearted and make them tremble with fear, even in a
court of justice.

Under circumstances like these, is it any wonder that
the White-caps promulgated their rotten theories, that
they went unwhipped of justice and the good people
suffered?

36 THK WHITE-CAPS.

While this lawless organization was generally known
and recognized as "White-caps," yet for reasons appar-
ent hereafter, they changed their name from that of
"White-caps" to "Grave Yard Hosts." They endeav-
ored, however, to keep the latter name as a profound se-
cret. The reason for this change was this : When a
White-cap case was in court the defendant and 'wit-
nesses were always interrogated about White-caps. He
was asked if he was a White-cap? If he ever joined
them? If he was ever on a White-cap raid, and all such
questions, which he promptly answered in the nega-
tive, and which literally speaking, at least from his
stand-point, was true, because he had not joined the
-White-caps, but the "Grave Yard Hosts."

Hence this furnished a loop-hole for such as had any
regard for their oath to crawl out at, if ever arraigned
for perjury. No doubt for the same reasons, they had
other names that they went by, and were sworn in by.
But the organization went by the name of White-caps,
and when spoken of they were always referred to by
that name.

CHAPTER VII.
CRIMES MULTIPLY AND INCREASE IN MAGNITUDE.

Crime and wrong-doing is always progressive, and
will increase and spread in its influences in proportion
to the encouragement it receives. Whenever it be-
comes popular in any community to violate the law, it is
not necessary to stop to discuss the question as to
whether or not crimes will be committed in that com-
munity. It follows as a natural consequence.

When White-capping became popular outrages were
frequent.

As stated elsewhere, the original purpose of White-
capping was to administer punishment to a class of peo-
ple who lived in adultery and kept disorderly houses in
the community where they lived. This class of people
sometimes becomes very obnoxious to the better ele-
ment of society, which is always glad to get rid of them.
We can thus see how easily they may have been influ-
enced to sanction a scheme to get rid of this class of
violators. This accounts for so many good citizens
originally joining the White-caps. But having once
joined how were they to break away from them and
turn their influence against them? They knew not what
it was till they got into it, and then to refuse to stand
by it, meant the penalty of death would follow. Such
as refused to join in the crimes that followed in the
progress of White-capping could only remain neutral
and keep their lips sealed. The better class did this;

446071

3& THB WHITE-CAPS.

and as the crimes of the organization became more fre-
quent and more heinous in their character, more and
more withdrew their active influence, and White-cap-
ping by degrees drifted into the hands of "toughs" and
those known to be vicious and lawless.

When it reached this stage its promulgators began
to study new work for it to do, and new fields to ex-
plore.

They had entered into people's houses masked and
in disguise, whipped them and beat them with many
stripes for the offence of adultery and similar misde-
meanors, and had not been identified nor punished.
Now these same would be moral reformers, reasoned to
themselves in this wise : If we can enter a house and
whip the inmates and not be detected nor punished in
the courts for it, then why not enter in like manner for
any other purpose and successfully defeat prosecutions?

This method of reasoning was plausible ; so they con-
cluded that they could use the White-cap guise as a
shield for any offense they felt disposed to commit.
Therefore when one of the gang had a private difficulty
with a neighbor or other party, he would summon his
White-cap colleagues and report to them what he
wanted. The result was, the supposed offender was
overpowered by masked men and dragged from his
home in the dead hours of night and severely beaten,
at the instance of a coward who dared not meet him
face to face. In this way private grievances were
avenged by the White-caps.

This part of the work was seen to be a success because
undetected and they felt encouraged to take another
step in the field of conquest.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 39

Such of them as had made up their mind to take a
full degree in the catalogue of crimes, now organized
special bands, consisting- of the most desperate element
of the White-caps, and went into stealing, robbing and
murdering and in fact all sprts of crime.

They generally selected as their victims pensioners,
old widow women and old men who were generally
known to keep money about their premises, and who
were helpless to defend themselvs. Many of the most
outrageous robberies were in this way committed in
Sevier county.

Private houses were entered by force, and old de-
crepid men and women were forced at the muzzle of a
shot-gun or pistol to discover and deliver up to the cruel
intruders all their money and other valuables. After
thus pilfering a home and forcing from their unfortu-
nate victims the earnings of a life time, these bandits
would as silently steal away, divide thefr ill-gotten
gains, and return to their homes undetected and un-
known to any one except themselves and their gang.

Among those who have been the victims of this mer-
ciless gang of White-cap robbers, we have been fur-
nished with only a few names, among which are old
man Andrew Henderson from whom they took about
two thousand dollars in gold ; Mr. John Burnett, a
pensioner; a Mrs. McMahan from whom they forced
about one thousand dollars. A widow lady by the
name of Fox also lost what she had at the hands of one
of these midnight mobs.

In these robbing expeditions it is said only a small
number, generally from four to six men were along

40 THE WHITE-CAPS.

This was for two reasons : First, the fewer the num-
ber the more of the booty to each ; secondly, the fewer
the number the less the liability of detection. Besides a
half dozen men were all that were necessary to over-awe
and rob an old decrepid man, or a helpless woman. It
don't take brave men to do such deeds as these, but
base cowards.

Jesse James and his noted band of outlaws were rob-
bers, but it was done upon a high plane ;,it was a high
order of robbery if you will allow the expression. They
did it with such boldness and dispatch that one
could not read of their daring adventures without some
degree of admiration for their very bravery. They
were never known to commit a robbery at night but
rather chose broad daylight to display their skill at
acquiring ill-gotten wealth. They never attacked an
old defenseless man or a lone woman in daylight or
dark and branded any man as a coward who would do
so. So far from invading the home of an old defense-
less man or woman in night time and after terrifying
them with guns and threats, carry off their earnings,
thejames gang rather preferred to dash into the city
of Omaha at high noon and rob a bank of its hundreds
of thousands of dollars while the whole city looked on,
or march into the fair grounds in Kansas City and
carry off the gate money while a half a million eyes
gazed in wonder and astonishment, if not admiration
at their reckless daring.

While there may be something in the history of the
James gang worthy of admiration, there is certainly
nothing connected with White-capping but what is
loathed. and despised by every brave, and honest. man..

JUDGE T. A. R. KELSON.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 41

It grew from bad to worse till in its lattejr days it de-
generated into highway robbery and murder. Men
were killed for opinion's sake ; prices were placed upon
the heads of persons who were witnesses and happened
to know something of White-cap depredations, and
they were summarily put out of the way by the assas-
sin's bullet.

Chief among these were William and Laura Whaley,
whose tragic death is told in another place in this book,
and for which Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton have
been indicted and convicted, and Robert Catlett and
Robert Wade stand indicted as accessories before the
fact.

CHAPTER VIII.

A REFUGE FOR CRIMINALS OF ALL CLASSES.

There is one other feature of the White-cap organi-
zation that we have not yet referred to. It is something
which evidently was not contemplated in its early his-
tory, but taken on in its days of degeneracy.

The White-cap organization was not only an or-
ganization of crime and wickedness in high places from
its birth to its death, and did everything in its power,
even to the commission of perjury to protect its mem-
bers from the penitentiary and the hangman's noose,
but it served as a veritable "City of Refuge!' for every
man who had committed a grave crime against the
law, whether he belonged to the order or not. If he
did not belong, as soon as his hands were stained with
blood or crime, he fled without delay to the secret
haunts of this diabolical order, where without delay
he was made a member in due form. All the qualifi-
cations needed to recommend him to the order were
that he had a record of crime and the more heinous the
crime the better it suited his Satanic majesty, the
chief of the White-caps. When once within the fold
of the order, he is entitled to all its privileges and bene-
fits. He would therefore be able to make bond and
secure the best of counsel for his defense. His new rela-
tion also meant that he was to have the full benefit and
assistance of the "expert" witnesses and jurors as well
as the manipulations and influence of the entire order
so far as they could render it. This was generally
equivalent to a guaranty of acquittal.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 43

The White-cap organization was thus worth more to
a criminal in his struggles in the courts than the best
law firm that could be procured, but when the two com-
bined their skill and tactics they erected a wall of de-
fense that was impregnable and one the State could
never batter down. In this manner the red-handed
murderer and the thief and the robber, for a number of
years went unpunished in Sevier county while the good
citizens were terrorized by midnight marauders, who
little feared the officers of the law.

CHAPTER IX.

DECAY AND DISINTEGRATION.

From the very nature of things and the principle on
which the White-cap organization was established it
could not live long. And judging it by its fruits which
is the moral and scriptural test, the only wonder is that
it existed half as long as it did among a civilized and
Christian people, such as live in Sevier county. But it
had its day and run its race, and is now a thing of the
past. It left in its track bleeding hearts and widows
and orphans ; the bitter fruit of an ignoble existance.

The origin, growth and progress of the White-cap
organization as well as its connection with courts and
criminals, have been briefly mentioned in the previous
chapters. We now come to the most delightful part
of our task and that is the disappearance of White-caps,
or at least, White-capping, and the disintegration of the
organization in Sevier county.

The murder of Wm. Whaley and wife, Laura Wha-
ley, was the culmination of White-capping in the
county. Murders and all kind of outrages had been
committed prior to that time ; but none \vere so brutal
and inhuman as this one.

The people had tolerated and in effect excused the
whipping of men and women, robbery, the murder of
men in their houses, in the woods and along the public
highways, but when it come to going to the humble
little cottage home of a poor, but unoffending citizen
of the county, breaking in on him, dragging him from

THE WHITE-CAPS. 45

his sick bed, and shooting his brains out in the pres-
ence of his wife, without even giving him an excuse for
it, and then turning upon his wife, a new born babe in
her arms, begging for mercy, where no mercy is to be
found, her brains shot out and she falls beside her hus-
band never to speak again ; the life blood of the two,
husband wife, father and mother slowly ebbing away
as the wicked and heartless assassins steal into the dark-
ness and make their escape : we say, when it came to
this, it was too much for the people to bear. It was be-
yond toleration. They broke forth, as it were, in their
fury, and were aroused as men seldom are. Every
good citizen swore in his heart to assist in avenging the
nmrder of the Whaleys and putting an end to the in-
famous White-cap practices in Sevier county.

This was the beginning of the end. People no longer
felt over-awed by the intimidation of those bold ban-
dits which had so long held sway by closing the mouths
of men and controlling the public pulse, but they spoke
out boldly in no uncertain terms.

When the five hundred people who visited the scene
of the murder, viewed the remains of William and
Laura Whaley as they lay prostrate upon the floor
of their cabin home in their night apparel and in
pools of blood, and heard the piteous cries of the little
babe that in so short a time had been rendered parent-
less and homeless, the smouldering fires that had slum-
bered in their breasts so long now broke forth like vol-
canoes and with such fury that it astounded the White-
caps themselves. Men, who heretofore had not dared
express their sentrments,now spoke them freely and
the talk became epidemic. Correct public sentiment

46 THE WHITE-CAPS.

began to reassert itself and in a short time a wave was
started that has not yet stopped. '

The officers of the law are also indignant and are
encouraged to take a bold stand against the red-handed
murderers.

Attorneys are employed to assist in prosecutions, offi-
cers constitute themselves detectives, rewards are of-
fered by the county by the state and by individuals. All
suspicious persons and especially White-caps are
watched in their every movement and a general plan of
warfare, which meant a fight to the finish was set on
foot against the iniquitous White-capping.

All of this, and more, was done within a few weeks
after the Whaleys were killed in the tragic manner
above pointed out. So bold a stand taken by the offi-
cers and the people, seemed to non-pluss theWhite-
caps and especially the more timid of them. Only the
boldest would openly show signs of counter warfare.

Public sentiment was now right, and the good and
law-abiding people were determined to beat no retreat.

But to succeed in stamping out White-capping and
especially in punishing those charged with crime, the
people felt that they must have the full protection and
hearty co-operation of the courts. Heretofore the
White-caps had shown themselves masters of the situa-
tion in almost every case up to this time, where an at-
tempt had been made to punish any one charged with
White-capping.

It was felt that something must be done to exclude
White-caps from sitting on juries, both grand and
petit, for as long as this could be done there was but
little hope of successful prosecutions.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 47

The Tennessee legislature met on the first Monday
of January, 1897, only a few days after the Whaley mur-
der was committed, and continued its session some
three or four months. It was therefore in session dur-
ing the exciting weeks and months that followed the
murder of the Whaleys and the general upheaval and
reaction against the practice of White-capping in Se-
vier county. Counsel was sought from every friend of
law and order, and the conclusion was reached that the
good people who were so heroically struggling for su-
premacy against lawlessness, should have some addi-
tional legislation to aid them in their efforts. This was
soon accomplished through friends of the movement
who went to Nashville and presented the matter in per-
son to members of the legislature and others who at
once espoused the cause of the people with a zeal that
knew no limit short of success.

The result was that in a short time a bill was pre-
pared, known as the anti-White-cap bill, introduced in
both houses and became a law by the governor's signa-
ture on the 24th day of March, 1898.

In as much as the masses of the people are not fur-
nished directly with the published acts of the state, and
for this reason many not having read the law in ques-
tion, we deem it not out of place to here quote the first,
second and third sections of this law, which reads as
follows :

''Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly
of the State of Tennessee, That it shall be a felony, pun-
ishable by from three to twenty-one years imprison-
ment in the penitentiary and by full judgment of in-
farny and disqualification, for two or more persons to

48 THE WHITE-CAPS.

enter into any conspiracy or combination, or to remain
in any conspiracy or combination under any name or
upon any pretext whatsoever, to take human life, or
to engage in any act reasonably calculating to cause the
loss of life, whether generally or of a class or classes, or
of any individual or individuals, or to inflict corporal
punishment or injury whether generally or upon a class
or classes, or upon an individual or individuals ; or to
burn or otherwise destroy property or to feloniously
take the same whether generally of a class or classes or
of an indivdiual or individuals."

"Section 2. Be it further enacted, That it shall be a
felony punished in like manner as the offense described
in the first section of this act for any person either di-
rectly or indirectly to procure or encourage any one
to become or remain a member of any such unlawful
conspiracy or combination as is described in the first
section of this act ; or for any person either directly or
indirectly to aid, abet or encourage any person, to en-
gage or remain in such conspiracies or combination or
to aid or abet in the accomplishment of any purpose or
• end of such conspiracies or combinations.

"Section 3. Be it further enacted, That no person who
has been guilty of any offense described in the two pre-
ceding sections of this act, shall be competent to sit or
serve on any grand or traverse jury, and it shall be the
duty of the court to carefully exclude all such persons
from the juries, both grand and petit; and when he
shall be informed or shall have reason to suspect any
person presented as a juror, guilty of any of said of-
fences, he shall call witnesses, if necessary and examine
fully into the truth of the charge ; he shall -dismiss from
the grand jury any person who has been selected and

THE WHITE-CAPS. 49

.afterwards shown to be implicated in any of said of-
fenses."

These are the principal sections of the acts and show
its purpose and scope. '

The fourth section gives the grand jury inquisitorial
powers, and makes it the duty of the judges to give it
specially in charge.

It will thus be seen that the evil against which the
above law was directed especially, was regarded by the
legislature as one of serious consequences to the people
of that section where it existed, from the very fact that
the law which was to up-root it was most radical in its
provisions and scope ; so much so indeed that many of
its friends feared that it might be, by the courts, de-
clared unconstitutional.

While the word "White-cap" is not mentioned in the
act, yet the terms conspiracies, unlawful combinations,
etc., fully cover the case and are general terms which
will include all parties of this class whether they belong
to an organization known as "White-caps" or "Grave
Yard Hosts" or some other name of similar import.

The act makes it unlawful to even belong to such an
organization. This is one of the provisions of the law
which made the White-caps tremble in their boots, be-
ing conscious of the fact that they were not only mem-
bers of such an order, but that it was well known in a
general way that they did belong to it.

But possibly the most effective provision of the law
was the third section which disqualifies White-caps
from sitting on juries, and, if by chance they should
be selected, gives the judge the power to discharge
them.

50 THE WHITE-CAPS.

It is said that this provision of the law worked
like a charm in most cases. For when any person who
was either a White-cap or accused of being one, was
named by the county court to serve as a regular juror
he was either too sick to attend court, and sent in his
excuse, or sent a proxy in his stead ; thereby avoiding
the risk of having his White-cap record inquired into
by the court. So the mere existence of the law upon
the statute books and the declared purpose on the part
of the law-abiding people to enforce it to the very let-
ter, did much to drive this lawless element from the
county and juries where they had hitherto been so ef-
fective in shielding the criminal classes. The friends
and promoters of this beneficent measure now felt that
half the battle was won, and that all they had to do to
achieve ultimate success over White-capism, and for-
ever drive from the courts of the county an organiza-
tion that for a time had rendered ineffective all law,
was to demand of the Judge and Attorney-General that
the law be strictly enforced, and no quarter whatever
should be given to those who sought to set it at naught.
For some reason, real or apparent, for on this point
the writer does not speak advisedly, not being in a po-
sition to know, the people who had undertaken the task
of putting down this lawless element had lost confi-
dence in a large measure, in Judge Hicks, who was
then holding the Circuit Courts of Sevier county and
had been for a number of years. Most people gave him
the credit of being an honest and conscientious man,
but they claimed that he did not have the firmness and
the moral courage to stand up in the face of these ene-
mies of the people, who had so long infested his courts
with such disastrous results, and administer the law

THE WHITE-CAPS. 51

with that firmness and vigor absolutely necessary at
this particular crisis.

Public sentiment was now all right, and the law-
abiding people were much encouraged. They had just
succeeded in having a law enacted, the very thoughts
of which and especially its enforcement, struck terror
into the hearts of their enemies, and it was felt that an-
other and a firmer judge than Judge Hicks, was in-
dispensably necessary to deal with the White-caps and
administer the law in Sevier county. So it was decided
that the Second Judicial Circuit, presided over by
Judge W. R. Hicks, should be so changed as to take
Sevier county from said circuit and add it to the Crimi-
nal District of Knox county presided over by Judge
Thomas A. R. Nelson.

The State legislature, which had already been en-
listed in behalf of the good citizens of the section af-
flicted with White-caps, was now again appealed to for
the change in the Judicial circuits as above indicated.
Accordingly a bill was enacted, into a law, which de-
tached the Circuit Court of Sevier county from the Sec-
ond Judicial District and transferred and attached it to
the Criminal District of Knox county, which imposed
upon Judge Nelson the duty of holding the Circuit
Courts of Sevier county.

CHAPTER X.

" A DANIEL COME TO JUDGMENT."

The Whfte-caps must have thought the change a bad
one for them, for it is said every one of them bitterly
opposed it, while some of the bolder ones made light
of the fact that Judge Nelson should go to Sevier coun-
ty for the purpose of punishing White-caps. Judge
Nelson held his first court in Sevierville in July, 1897,
an event which for weeks prior to this time, had been
'ooked forward to with extraordinary interest. All
?,orts of stories had been circulated as to what kind of
a man the new Judge was, and what the real purpose
and scope of his mission would be. Some thought all
he had to do. was to hunt out the White-caps and send
them to the penitentiary or hang them, without a trial
by jury or the benefit of clergy ; while others thought
he world not have the nerve and the courage to go into
a White-cap community and hold courts where all kind
of threats had gone forth against courts, lawyers, offi-
cers and all who dared to speak out against White-cap
outrages.

But the time for holding the July court came and
with it came Judge Nelson and Attorney-General E.
Fred. Mynatt, ar>d when court was called on that July
morning it is said that the little town of Sevierville was
never so thronged with people ; all anxious to see the
new Judge and new Attorney-General.

The ne"\v court house was packed as long as one
could get into it. Everybody wanted to hear the

THE WHITE-CAPS. 53

Judge's charge and know what he had to say, and
whether he would say anything about White-caps.

On this subject everybody's curiosity, if it may be
called that, was satisfied. After giving the grand jury
a very strong and vigorous charge on the usual statu-
tory offences, he then drew a copy of the new White-
cap law from his pocket (as it had not yet been pub-
lished in the Acts) and in a cool and deliberate manner,
he stated the scope and purpose of the law and the
causes which had brought it about.

It is said by those v,rho had the good fortune to hear
it, that he delivered one of the ablest and most eloquent
charges on this subject that they ever heard fall from
the lips of any judge. He did not mince words nor
seek evasions, but went straight to the core of the sub-
ject in hand. Every word struck terror to the very
hearts of the White-caps who were present, and when
he had finished there was a feeling of relief in the mind
of every law-abiding citizen in the house. The anti-
White- caj- cause had been strengthened a hundred per
cent., and nobody felt that there would be a failure on
the judge's part to administer the law without fear, fa-
vor or affection.

It was now felt that complete victory was within the
power of the people through the medium of the courts,
and that violators of the law whether White-caps or
not, would suffer the penalties of the law.

At this term but few White-caps reported as jurors
although several were on the lists and most of those
who did report disqualified. A few, however, found
their way into the jury box and when that fact was
brought to the attention of the court he summarily de-

54 THE WHITE-CAPS.

posed them, with the declaration that if they were
White-caps they had no more right to sit on a jury than
a horse thief.

Since Judge Nelson has been holding the courts at
Sevierville it has been as easy to convict White-caps as
any one else, and some of the most noted cases known
to the bar of Tennessee have been tried in this court,
among which may be mentioned the cases of the State
against Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton, charged with
the murder of William and Laura Whaley, which has
already been referred to. Everybody feels now, that
White-capping is a thing of the past in Sevier county,
and no further outbreak is feared. Several causes as
above stated conspired to bring about this happy state
of affairs where only a short time ago lawlessness pre-
vailed and no man felt that he or his property was pro-
tected by the stiong arm of the law.

We cannot close this chapter without making per-
sonal mention of a few of the persons among the many
that the people of Sevier county owe a debt of gratitude
to, for the important part they took in restoring peace
and safety to that rich and prosperous county. And
first among the list is Tom H. Davis, the present sheriff
of Sevier county.

He led the crusade against White-capping from the
start. He boldly denounced them in public and pri-
vate and encouraged the people to do the same thing.
He as a deputy sheriff hunted down men charged with
murder and landed them in jail ; he offered rewards for
criminals from his own private means and persuaded
others to do the same thing ; he went to Nashville at his
own expense and stayed several weeks, securing the

THE WHITE-CAPS. 55

enactment of the two laws above referred to in this
chapter. He, in truth was the moving- spirit in setting
on foot this legislation ; he procured the assistance and
influence of Hon. G. W. Pickle, attorney-general of the
state, and even Governor Taylor himself.

Hon. John C. Houk, Senator from this Senatorial
district, took especial interest in these measures and be-
came their champion in the Senate.

Representative Parton took an active part and gave
his influence in the House.

While Judge Nelson as has been stated, by his bold
and fearless stand in dispensing the law inspired the
people with new life and hope, it should not be forgot-
ten that General E. F. Mynatt, the able attorney-gen-
eral of the Knox county criminal district, has been no
less a potent factor in bringing the guilty to justice and
driving the White-caps from the courts and many of
them from the country. Some of his efforts in prose-
cuting White-cap murderers, were remarkable for
vigor and ability. His closing arguments before the
juries in the Wynn and Tipton cases is said to have
been the finest efforts of his life and the most eloquent
appeals ever made to a jury in Sevier county. Men and
women wept like children, and the jurors were scarcely
less affected.

The attorney-general was ably assisted in these
prosecutions by his brother, R. A. Mynatt, assistant at-
torney-general.

In these cases the judge and the attorney-general can
feel that they have discharged their duty, acting under
their oaths as officers of the law. In the discharge of
these duties they were ably assisted by Sheriff Maples,

56 THE WHITE-CAPS.

and his deputies, Davis, Keener, McGill and others, to
whom the people of Sevier county will always feel
grateful for their services in driving" White-capping
from the county.

No White-cap outrages have been committed in the
county for nearly two years, and none at all we are told
since Judge Nelson was assigned the duty of hold-
ing the courts in that county.

There is as much quiet and order in Sevier county
now if reports be true as any county in the State. And
even the little town of Sevierville, which for a time was
the center and hot-bed of White-capping, and noted for
a gang of "toughs" and general lawlessness, is now as
quiet and orderly as any town in East Tennessee.

A rather amusing incident has been reported to the
writer as having occurred in Sevierville on the first
night that Judge Nelson and General Mynatt spent in
that town, just prior to opening their first term of
court.

Perhaps a dozen of the young bloods of the town
who had been in the habit of making night hideous
with their escapades, and on this particular occasion no
doubt backed and encouraged by the White-caps who
had not yet made Judge Nelson's acquaintance, con-
cluded that they would have some fine sport at the
expense of the new judge and attorney-general. They
thereupon organized their company and marched up
and down the street in front of the hotel where the
judge and attorney-general were stopping, singing:
"Hang Judge Nelson to a sour apple tree," etc., and
then they would repeat the same with General My-
natt's name, much to the annoyance of the visitors who

ATTORNEY-GENERAL, E. F. MYNATT.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 57

had been told all sorts of stories about what they would
see and hear in that White-cap town. But the judge,
while no doubt annoyed, was not to be intimidated by
this sort of conduct, and thereupon, sought the sheriff
or someof his deputies and had him to secure the names
of all of the night songsters, and turn them over to the
attorney-general with instructions to indict every one
of them for nuisances and general "cussedness" as soon
as his grand jury was ready for work. It was not long
before this was done, and some time on Monday the
sheriff appeared before the bar with about a dozen
pale-faced young Americans who were charged with
belonging to the Saturday night's choir. The judge
thereupon delivered them a lecture they will perhaps
never forget, and ordered them to give bond for their
appearance at a future day, at which time they must
answer for their conduct on the previous Saturday
night. The boys retired feeling that they had awak-'
ened the wrong passenger. What became of the boys
and the indictments against them we are not informed,
but we understand that Judge Nelson and General My-
natt have never since been disturbed by these or other
parties in their night slumbers and meditations.

Sevier county is one of the largest and richest coun-
ties in East Tennessee, noted for its rich farming lands
and beautiful rivers and mountain scenery, as well as
the intelligence and prosperity of its citizens. But it
has one blot upon its history and that is its White-cap
record. This only exists now, in history and not in

58 THE WHITE-CAPS.

practice. The people are now making rapid strides to
recover what they have lost in the last few years in
reputation. They have recently constructed one of the
most beautiful and convenient courthouses in East
Tennessee, and are now engaged in building a splen-
did pike road from Sevierville to Knox county which
will be worth thousands of dollars to them.

Long may they live to enjoy the peace and prosper-
ity which now prevails in that beautiful section of East
Tennessee, nestling as it does around the foot of the
great Smoky Mountains.

CHAPTER XL

SOME OF THE RESULTS WHICH FOLLOWED WHITE-
CAPPING IN SEVIER COUNTY.

There is an old adage that "Politics makes strange
bed fellows." The reader can no doubt recall one or
more instances in which the above statement has been
verified in his own experience. And what is true of
politics in this sense, may also be said of White-cap-
ping so far as it affected the public and the people in
Sevier county. Indeed as a general proposition, may it
not be said that this holds good in reference to any sub-
ject or issue which becomes absorbing and calls forth
different views and discussions by the people? Men
with or without studying public questions, ally them-
selves with one side or the other and thereby risk their
popularity and their fortunes with the choice made.
Nor are men always controlled in their choice by right •
and wrong or the moral aspect of the questions in-
volved. Some it is true circumscribe their conduct and
actions by moral motives, while others are influenced
by gain, or popularity, while still others are controlled
by a sordid ambition which knows no bounds short of
general deviltry and revenge.

As we have had occasion to say, perhaps more than
once in these pages, those who took the initiatory steps
in White-capping in Sevier county were prompted
by proper motives but were evidently guided by
false reasoning, but many persons, even on as grave

60 THE WHITE-CAPS.

matters as these do not stop to reason, but act from
first impulses. From one motive or another a suffi-
cient number of people were willing to cast their for-
tunes with those who believed in the new methods of
reform, to make it a strong and popular organization
among the citizens of Sevier county.

Some men joined the White-caps for their influence
in trade and from a business standpoint ; some for their
influence in elections, for it was known that they could
make or unmake officers at will; others joined them
because of the protection the order could afford them
in the commission of crime, or for crimes already com-
mitted. So it is well known that, at one time in Sevier
county, the anti-White-cap had the laboring oar to
handle, and was the "under dog" in the fight. Men
were looked upon as odious, and were taunted and in-
timidated because they saw proper to side with those
who sought to lead the anti-White-cap forces and sen-
timent.

In course of time though the tide changed, influen-
ces fast accumulated against the White-caps and they
were put on the defensive. Some of them were men of
means and they had spent their money freely to for-
ward the interest of their pet organization, and to as-
sist those who had cast their fortunes with it for pro-
tection. And when the general crash came, as we have
seen that it did, many a White-cap woke up to the aw-
ful fact that his investment in the organization had left
him without money, without friends and without char-
acter. He was regarded as unworthy of belief as a wit-
ness in a court of record. He was disqualified by spe-
cial statute from sitting on either grand or petit juries,

THE WHITE-CAPS. 6 1

and in effect rendered infamous. Indeed the way of
the White-capper is hard. He is now down and every-
body who passes gives him a kick. His crime is great
and the full enforcement of the law is demanded
against him.

The legislature is petitioned and grants new laws
for the purpose of more effectually punishing him.
judges are summarily disposed of and others installed
in their places, in order that punishment may be more
swift in overtaking him. He is indicted, arrested and
put in jail, and disallowed bail. Public sentiment is so
strong against him that it can be felt in the very air
around him, and he cannot get a fair trial on his native
heath, but is forced to go among strangers for a trial.
How changed the condition of the White-cap now and
a few years ago, when his word was law and courts and
juries were to him as chaff before the wind !

The pendulum indeed has swung to the other side,
and it may well be questioned whether wrongs and ex-
ceses, though unintentional, may not be indulged in
on the other extreme. This is generally true in refer-
ence to all reforms- But let us hope in these matters
that the golden medium may be found and accepted,
and that scales of justice may be correctly poised so
that every man may know and respect the law.

After the collapse of the White-cap organization
came, it is remarkable how soon its leaders disap-
peared. Some left the county and the state to avoid
prosecutions; others feeling that their credit,
their character and in a measure their property
was gone, disposed of their remaining assets and went
•to unknown parts. Some have been killed, while oth-

62 THE WHITE-CAPS.

ers are in the courts either awaiting trial or the execu-
tion of the sentences that have been pronounced
against them. Another large class of citizens who
have either been regarded as White-caps or in sym-
pathy with them, but in no sense leaders, afe now liv-
ing quiet retired lives and apparently show little or no
sympathy with the now defunct institution.

Public sentiment has been so revolutionized that
White-capism is now viciously attacked and unmerci-
fully condemned on every hand. It is natural therefore
that those who feel themselves guilty should want to
be as quiet and retired as possible.

To show how much White-capping and White-caps
are hated in Sevier county, and how the people regard
those who took a leading part in breaking it up and
driving it from their midst, it is only necessary to call
attention to the late election for sheriff in that county.

Sevier county is one of the strongest republican
counties in the state, there being about four thousand
voters in the county and not over four hundred of these
democrats, or about one out of every ten. In that elec-
tion there were two candidates for the office of sheriff,
to-wit : R. H. Shields a life long and consistent repub-
lican, and T. H. Davis, a life-long and consistent demo-
crat. Not only is Shields a republican, but a man of
unblemished character and splendid qualifications to
discharge the duties of the office. He was never a
White-cap nor a White-cap sympathizer, but a man of
exemplary habits, who believes in the supremacy of the
law. Mr. Shields, however, is not aggressive in his
manner, but rather quiet and unobtrusive, and during
the White-cap upheavals in the county he took little

THE WHITE-CAPS. 63

or no stock in them so far as was generally known, be-
ing content to let them alone if 'they would him.

On the other hand, Mr. Davis as stated was a
strong democrat, but like Mr. Shields a man of good
character and excellent qualifications for the office. He
is, however, a man not only of pronounced views on
important questions, but very aggressive in declaring
them an.l carrying them into execution. So when the
White-cap subject, became the all absorbing topic in
the county, Davis was among the first to speak out
boldly against it> and declare it unlawful and revolu-
tionary in its character. He showed the White-caps
no quarters, and vigorously attacked them wherever he
went. By reason of the bold stand he had taken against
this lawless element, he, though a pronounced demo-
crat, had been appointed a deputy sheriff of the county
by M. F. Maples when elected sheriff in 1896. It was
unusual in that county for the sheriff to appoint even a
deputy who was a democrat, but in this instance he
took the risk and made the appointment. It was soon
learned that he had made no mistake, for Davis at once
showed himself to be an active, wide-awake officer.
This appointment afforded him a field of operation he
had long wanted and that was to hunt down White-
caps and bring them to justice. His work along these
lines has been referred to in another place in this vol-
ume, and need not here be repeated.

His two years experience as a deputy sheriff had
given Davis an extended acquaintance over the county
which was worth a great deal to him in his coming
race. Shields had likewise been before the public be-
fore and was well known to the masses of the people.

64 THE WHITE-CAPS.

The two candidates thus equipped entered the contest.
Shields had the advantage in his politics, and to off-
set this, Davis launched forth his anti-White-cap rec-
ord. On these two issues the battle was waged. Se-
vier county had not elected a democratic sheriff since
the civil war, nearly forty years, and it was not be-
lieved by Davis' most ardent suporters that he could
overcome the enormous political majority against him.
While men were wedded to their party and hated to
break away from it, yet they felt that to get rid of
White-cap dominatipn and all the attendant evils it had
brought upon the people, was far more preferable at
this time than a party victory. The White-caps did
not stop at party lines, neither should those who in-
tended to wage war on them. Politics, it was argued,
was a good thing in its place, but when men's lives and
their property, the protection of their homes, their
wives and their children are all at stake, men should
close their eyes to politics and vote for the man who
stands and has stood closest to their interests. The war
on White- caps has been successfully waged and they
were now on the run, but it would not do to give up
their general at the critical movement.

Arguments like these were used by Davis friends
with telling effect. Old men who never had voted a
democratic ticket in their lives, ignored the question of
party politics and voted for Tom Davis. Republicans
and old Federal soldiers left their business, and can-
vassed the county in his interest. Shields' friends
could not check the tide. They argued that Shields
was no White-cap nor White-cap sympathizer and if
elected would show them no favors, and besides he was

THE WHITK CAPS. 65

a republican, all of which was true, but Davis had
fought the White-cap battles and won the victory and
he must be rewarded.

The people voted for Davis not because they liked
democrats more, but because they liked White-caps
less. On these lines the two candidates for sheriff
waged their contest. What White-caps were left in the
county and their sympathizers had no candidate in the
field, but as between Shields and Davis they naturally
went to the former. They all hated Davis too bad, he
had been their unrelenting enemy, and pursued them
into the last entrenchment. No argument could draw
this element to him, so it naturally went to Shields, who
if he had not helped them, had not done them any
harm. This was the turning point in the election. A
large number of people only wanted to know whom the
White-caps were for, and this known they would vote
for the other candidate. Many former admirers and
supporters of Shields, when they learned that the frag-
ments of the White-cap forces had gone to him, imme-
diately left him and went to Davis, saying they hated
to vote with the democrats, but preferred it to voting
with White-caps.

Although Shields saw that this very thing was
weakening him, yet he could not afford to say to the
White-caps that he did not want their support. This
is one of the times the candidates supporters defeated
him — his strength became his weakness — and when
the conflict was over and the smoke of battle cleared
away Davis was elected by a majority of 74 votes, out
of a total vote of 3,530.

Thus it is that Sevier county, almost solidly repub
lican in a single-handed race between a republican and

66 THE WHITE-CAPS.

a democrat, neither having the advantage of the other
in point of character and qualifications, to-day has a
democratic sheriff. It cannot properly be said that it
was Shields' weakness that caused his defeat, because
he was not a weak candidate, it was rather the strength
of the other man, combined with the peculiar condi-
tion of things as they then existed and had existed in
the county. "It was a condition and not a theory" that
confronted the people at this time, and no other repub-
lican perhaps in the country under the same circum-
stances could have been elected. It is just one of the
strange things that sometimes happens in the history
of any people, especially in times of excitement and
great agitation over grave public questions. It is the
fruit of a revolutionary spirit that sometimes possesses
people.

Ten years ago, if one in a serious mood had asserted
that in the year 1898, the people of Sevier county by
popular vote would elect a democratic sheriff in a sin-
gle-handed race between two good men as in this case,
he would have been laughed at in derision, if not put
down as a lunatic.

Tom Davis never would have been sheriff of Sevier
county had it not been for the White-cap question. It
is part of the sequel of Sevier county' "Reign of Ter-
ror."

There are some other questions and coincidences
growing out of Davis election as sheriff and the White-
cap question which it is deemed appropriate to be men-
tioned here.

Sheriff Davis, Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton were
all raised up together in the same neighborhood. They

YHE WHITE- CAPS. 67

were school boys together and played together in the
common sports of the day. Always friends, they would
fight for each other at a moment's warning. When
baseball was the "rage" among the boys of that section
several years ago, they all belonged to the same team
of which Tom was their captain. They planned and
took counsel together as to how they would defeat
their foe upon the ball field, and scarcely ever went
down in defeat. But in course of time their paths di-
verged, and they traveled in different fields and oper-
ated on different lines.

Davis settled down and for several years lived the
atiiet life of a farmer. Tipton followed his chosen
trade, a carpenter ; while Wynn had no special occupa-
tion, but drifted around ; much of his time being spent
in idleness and unprofitable fishing and hunting. When
White-capping sprang up in the county, Tipton drifted
into that and became its leader and captain, with Pleas
Wynn as a good lieutenant, while Davis became the
leader of those who opposed it. In this sense they
were enemies. Davis was after the White-caps and
Tipton was after anybody that was pursuing him or his
men. When the final clash came fortune favored Da-
vis. As deputy sheriff he arrested Wynn and Tipton
for the murder of the Whaleys, took a leading part in
their prosecution and this naturally made them his bit-
ter enemies, but it helped to make him sheriff of the
county. Now Wynn and Tipton are condemned to die
on the 4th of January, 1899, upon the gallows, and un-
less this decree is changed, it will become the duty of
Tom Davis, their former friend and playmate, but af-
terwards their most hated enemy, to carry into effect

68 THE WHITE-CAPS.

this solemn decree of the highest court in the common-
weaMi of Tennessee.

These are not only interesting facts and coinci-
dences when studied in connection with the lives and
histories of these three Sevier county boys, but they
form a part of the sequel in the history and downfall of
one of the most noted gangs of outlaws known to mod-
ern civilization.

CHAPTER XII.

THOMAS H. DAVIS.

Thomas Houston Davis was born in Sevier county on
the yth of August, 1864. He is the son of J. D. Davis, a
prosperous farmer, living four miles below Seviervilie,
on the Knoxville and Seviervilie road. His mother,
Mary J. Davis, is the daughter of Judge Samuel
Pickens, of Sevier county. His early life was spent
on the farm. He attended the public schools of the
county, two terms at Carson college and one at the
Knoxville Business college. He taught school four
sessions and then returned to the farm. In the year
1887 he was married to Linnie A. Adams, daughter of
T. F. Adams, of Strawberry Plains. After his mar-
riage, he lived a quiet farmer's life up to the year 1894
when he was appointed deputy sheriff by sheriff M. F.
Maples.

The fight which he made against the White-cap
organization in Sevier county presents a case of unpar-
alleled bravery, perseverance and skill. He stood
alone against 650 outlaws, turned the tide and won
the victory.

White-caps no longer rule supreme in Sevier county.
Overawed by his boldness, determination and shrewd
detective work, they at last weakened and gave up the
fight. L,ike a trembling culprit, standing upon the
very verge of eternity with the gallows staring him in
the face, they, too, saw that justice had at last over-
taken them. Thus, the dense clouds that over-

70 THE WHITE-CAPS.

shadowed Sevier county began to break and move
slowly away while gleams of sunshine flashed between
them as they passed, lighting up the hearts of the
people with rays of hope.

They recognized in Tom Davis a leader that knew
no such word as defeat, and, rallying to his support,
vowed they would all stand by him to the " bitter
end." Thus began the great struggle to overthrow
White-capism and restore law and order in Sevier
county.

Few men have endured as many hardships or had as
many hair-breadth escapes in the same length of time
as the subject of this sketch. Fearless and undaunted,
he pressed forward with a determination to win or die
in the effort, and therefore overcame all opposition and
surmounted every obstacle. Although many threats
were made against his life, his road waylaid at differ-
ent times and his close friends and relatives advised
him to give up the struggle, resign his office and flee
the country until excitement abated, he still went
about wearing the same usual smile on his face and
quietly working up the evidence that was slowly, but
surely, weaving a web around the necks of some of the
most noted outlaws that ever set foot on Tennessee
soil. He was not deterred from his purpose, and when
warned by his friends of his perilous undertaking only
replied : " The time has come when some man must
undertake it, or our county is ruined."

The day that Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton were
arrested on the public square in the town of Sevierville
and led to the court house by deputy sheriff Tom
Davis is a day that will ever live in the minds of the

THE WHITE-CAPS. 71

people. The crash had come at last, and the turning
point in the lives of two noted White-caps and outlaws
had been reached. They had evidently run their
course, and the first link in the chain that for years
bound together a band of desperadoes had been broken.

We will not attempt to give a detailed account of all
his exploits, but will mention some of the most noted
ones ; those pertaining to White-caps alone.

He has arrested and assisted in the arrest of thirty-
four White-caps, and is familiarly known in East
Tennessee as the famous White-cap detective. When
asked as to how he had achieved such great success,
he replied : " My success is due more to the fact that
I kept my own secrets than anything else."

He would often disappear and be gone for weeks at
a time, when even his closest friends would not know
his whereabouts. The White-caps would grow uneasy
when he did not appear every day on the streets of
Sevierville. And oftentimes his friends would be very
anxious to know about him. In the course of time,
Tom would return from some other State, bringing
with him some noted criminal.

When the famous Whaley murder occurred, Tom
was on his way to East Burnstead, Ky., where he bad
located one J. J. Robison. He went to his home one
night and knocked at the front door, but no response
came. He attempted to batter it down, but it had
evidently been well barred on the inside. He at last
effected an entrance at a back window, and once on
the inside, made a thorough search. He struck a
match, but there was no one in the room. He then
went to the door of an adjoining room, carrying the
lighted match with him. On reaching the door, he

72 THE WHITE-CAPS.

heard Robison move, and, quick as a flash, extin-
guished the light, calling on Robison to strike a
match. Robison replied :

"Strike a match yourself, you d d intruder."

" You strike a match," replied the officer, " or I will
put a hole in you."

Thus the words passed back and forth, each one
calling on the other to make a light, the officer well
knowing that Robison was a dangerous character, he
having had trouble with him before. Robison finally
struck a match ; it was no sooner done than he was
under arrest, hand-cuffed and on his way to the rail-
road station. Everything went smooth on the return
trip.

Deputy sheriff Davis reached home late Friday
night, after the murder of the Whaley family, the
murder having occurred the previous Monday night.
He rose early Saturday morning and rode into Cat-
lettsburg, where he found a crowd of excited people
still discussing the Whaley murder. He did not tarry
long, but after gathering What information he could,
and assuring his friends that the perpetrators of that
awful crime should be brought to justice, rode rapidly
away. Arriving at the scene of the murder, he found
Ivizzie Chandler, sister of Laura Whaley, still weeping
over the loss of a brother and sister. Her story was a
touching one indeed, and she wound up by saying :

" If I ever lay eyes again on the little short man that
did the shooting, I will know him."

The officer took her home with him for protection,
as he feared she, too, would be killed by the White*
caps,

DEPUTY SHERIFF T. H. DAVIS.
(Now Sheriff of Sevier County, Tenn.)

THK WHITE-CAPS. 73

Thus the work began which later on terminated in
the arrest and conviction of two of the perpetrators of
that dastardly crime. Deputy sheriff Davis lost no
time, but believing in the old adage, " to strike while
the iron is hot," began at once to devise some plan
whereby L,izzie Chandler might see Pleas Wynn, who,
by this time, was suspected by everybody.

Accordingly, he brought her to town, before daylight
on the following Monday morning, and placed her in
an upstairs room at the Mitchell hotel, where she
could see everyone assembled on the public square.
She waited many long hours before he appeared on
the scene, but late in the morning, near eleven o'clock,
Pleas Wynn came walking along. Her eyes were fixed
upon him for a moment, then she drew back from the
window with a shudder, exclaiming :

"There goes the very man that killed sister and
Bill Whaley."

Deputy sheriff Davis walked down from the upstairs
room of the hotel and arrested Pleas Wynn within a
few steps of where he had been identified. This
caused great commotion, as the town was filled with
excited people, it being county court day, and only a
week from the date of the murder.

Catlett Tipton's arrest followed a few minutes later,
and likewise Bob Catlett and Bob Wade, for deputy
sheriff Davis had already wired the sheriff of Ashe-
ville, N. C., to arrest Bob Catlett at once.

In the meantime, Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton
had their trial before a Justice and were released.
Thus the White-caps scored another victory, and
sneered at the efforts being made by deputy sheriff

74 THE WHITE-CAPS.

Davis, but this did not effect Davis in the least. He
only replied, " He laughs best who laughs last," and
started immediately for Asheville, N. C., taking with
him deputy sheriff J. E. Keener, a warm friend and
fearless officer.

On arriving at Asheville, they found Catlett under
arrest, who said to the officers :

" I never got into any trouble yet but what I got
out."

Deputy sheriff Davis replied, " Sometimes in a man's
life the time comes when a man's money can't save
him. That time may have come to you, Bob/' at the
same time producing from his pocket a pair of hand-
cuffs.

Catlett drew back, saying, " You don't mean to put
them on me, do you ? ' '

"Yes, sir," came the reply. "You will wear them
back to Tennessee, or you or I, one or the other, will
die in North Carolina."

His friends interceded for him, but to no avail, and
Catlett wore the " bracelets " back to Tennessee. Bob
Catlett and Bob Wade were then tried before a Justice
of the Peace, and Catlett was released, while Wade
was held for court in a bond of one thousand dollars.
Now came the critical point in deputy sheriff Davis'
life. The three murderers had been released and
were free men again. They well knew that Davis
held in his possession damaging evidence, and was yet
hot on their trail.

Time sped on, excitement ran high, and threats
were freely made. The people lived in suspense, not
knowing what a day might bring forth. Some said

THE WHITE-CAPS. 75

that deputy sheriff Davis would not live a month ;
others, that he would not live to see the convening of
another court. In the meantime, he and Sheriff
Maples offered fifty dollars each as a reward for the
arrest and conviction of the Whaley murderers. The
county court had already offered a reward of five
hundred dollars.

Immediately after this, Davis received a notice to
resign his position as deputy sheriff or he would be
killed by the White-caps. He did not heed this warn-
ing, but took the next train for Nashville, where he
succeeded in persuading Governor Taylor to offer a
reward of five hundred dollars for the Whaley mur-
derers. On the return trip, he stopped over a few
days in Knoxville and employed two detectives, C. A.
Reeder and C. W. McCall, to help work up the case. A
consultation was held and a plan of work agreed
upon. Many witnesses had fled the county for fear
they might meet the same fate as the Whaleys. Most
of them had located in Knoxville. Reeder and McCall
were to work this end of the line, while Davis returned
to Sevier county to renew his efforts at the other end.
He made frequent trips, however, between Knoxville
and Sevierville to consult with Reeder and McCall.

On one of these trips he came near losing his life,
when, as it is believed, a deep-laid scheme was planned
to assassinate him, at a point about half way between
Sevierville and . Knoxville. Returning to Sevierville
by boat, the " L,ucile Borden" and "Telephone" ran
for some little distance side by side. While the two
steamers were in this position a burly negro, after
making inquiry for Tom Davis, stepped from one boat
to the other and immediately raised a row with the

76 THE WHITE-CAPS.

cook, evidently watching his opportunity to get in his
bloody work. He kept his eye on the front end of the
boat, but the officer came around the back way and
had hold of him before he knew it. He gave Davis a
tremendous shove against the banister which came
near throwing him overboard, at the same time
attempting to draw his pistol. Davis was equal to the
occasion, and held his man with his left hand while
he drew his own revolver with his right. He thrust it
in the negro's face, demanding him to throw up his
hands. His hands went up and were held up until
Captain Newman had disarmed him. He had a fine
pistol, a forty-four Smith & Wesson, but failed to get
in his work because the hammer had caught in the
lining of his pocket, thereby preventing him from
drawing it. And thus the would-be assassin was
brought .into the town of Sevierville, a prisoner, by the
man whom he had attempted to assassinate. The
same night that the negro was being tried another
plot was being arranged.

This time they were to waylay the road at the Houk
bluff, a mile and a half below Sevierville, and wait
until Davis came along on his way home. The plan
was carried out and the death-trap set, but their game
failed to walk into it. Deputy sheriff Davis had heard
of the plot and remained in Sevierville that night.

By and by, court came on and deputy sheriff Davis
was still on hand, at his post and ready for duty. He
had left no stone unturned, and the evidence, when
placed before the grand jury, was sufficient to warrant
the finding of true bills against Pleas Wynn, Catlett
Tipton, Bob Catlett and Bob Wade.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 77

Davis at once arrested Pleas Wynn and Catlett
Tipton and placed them behind closed bars. He then
went out in town to find Bob Catlett, but he, upon
learning of the fate of Wynn and Tipton, had left
town in hot haste.

Not to be foiled in his undertaking, deputy sheriff
Davis at once started for the Catlett home, six miles
away, taking with him deputy sheriff B. A. Rolen. It
was late in the evening and darkness came on befoie
they reached the home of Catlett. On their arrival,
they found the Catlett house enclosed by a high wire
fence, and two bull-dogs keeping guard on the inside.
This was the most formidable foe that either officer
had ever met, so they decided to call from the fence.
The dogs answered, but no response from Bob. They
at once dismounted, and with a pistol in each hand,
stepped on the inside. The dogs came dashing down
to the gate like two roaring lions, making a circle in
a vain effort to get behind the officers. Foiled in this,
however, they finally gave up the chase and disap-
peared. Mrs. Catlett then appeared upon the scene,
very much excited, and begged for peace. The offi-
cers assured her that there would be no trouble if Bob
would come out and surrender. She closed the door
in their faces, saying " Bob will never come out."

The door was thrown wide open and the officers
stepped inside. Bob well knew what this meant, and
from an upstairs room answered that he would come
down and surrender. He did so and was soon on his
way to Sevierville.

In the meantime, Sevierville had gone wild with
excitement. Perhaps there has never been a time in

78 THE WHITE-CAPS.

the history of Sevierville when excitement ran so
high as it did that night and the following day.

William Wynn, brother of Pleas Wynn, had assaulted
and cruelly beaten J. D. Davis, an old and respected
citizen and father of deputy sheriff Tom Davis. The
news spread like wild fire, and while the White-caps
were fast assembling on the square, the friends of
Tom Davis and his father were rushing to and fro,
gathering arms from every quarter, determined to fight
it out. It was soon learned that a determined effort
was being made by. the White-caps to rescue Bob
Catlett, who was then on his way to Sevierville in
custody of Davis and Rolen. Sheriff Maples sum-
moned all the men he could find, and keeping some to
guard the jail, dispatched the remaining ones to meet
the officers with Catlett. This posse met them just
below Catlettsburg and told them what was going on
in Sevierville.

There was a determined look on Tom Davis' face as
he heard the news and dashed across the river to
Catlettsburg for reinforcements. He soon returned
with a few brave and fearless men, and gave orders
that, " if attacked, every man dies on the spot."

He took the front and led the way to Sevierville,
and Catlett was soon placed in a cell with his two
accomplices, Wynn and Tipton. Although a criminal
all his life, this was the first time Bob Catlett had ever
been placed behind closed bars.

Next day the town was filled with excited people.
The White-caps were enraged almost beyond control.
Three of their leaders — J. C. Tipton their captain,
Bob Catlett the wealthiest man of their order, and

THE WHITE-CAPS. 79

Pleas Wynn, a man capable of committing any crime,
were all now languishing behind closed bars.

As their iron-clad oath bound them to rescue a
brother at all hazards, a regular pitched battle was
expected at any moment. Each side waited for the
other to bring on the attack. Fortunately for both,
neither side was willing to assume such a great respon-
sibility.

When court convened, deputy sheriff Davis was
present, with his shot gun, apparently as much deter-
mined as ever. The prisoners were given a hearing
before Judge Hicks and granted bail, and thus were
once more released on the public. -This trial was con-
cluded late Saturday evening of the March term of
court, 1897.

Monday morning following, deputy sheriff Davis
boarded the train at Strawberry Plains for Nashville,
where he succeeded in having a bill passed by the legis-
lature detaching the Circuit Court of Sevier county
from the Second Judicial Circuit and attaching it to the
Criminal District of Knox county, presided over by
Judge T. A. R. Nelson, thereby preventing Judge
Hicks from holding another court in Sevierville.
Davis' friends rallied to his support in Nashville. The
bill was drawn by Gen. G. W. Pickle, introduced by
Hon. Horace A. Mann, and fought to a finish by Hon.
John C. Houk. It was a hot contest, and during its
progress, the opposition, headed by Hon. Cal. Keeney,
made the fight that it was a personal matter between
Davis and Judge Hicks, and, besides, it was forcing
Judge Nelson upon an unwilling people.

This was not true, however, and Davis so convinced
the honorable members of the legislature by returning

80 THE WHITE- CAPS.

to Sevierville on the next train, which place he
reached on Monday morning, County court day, in
April. 1897. He at once called a mass meeting in the
court house, at one o'clock, and opened the proceed-
ings with a statement of the object and purpose of the
meeting and what was transpiring at Nashville. Reso-
lutions were adopted endorsing the passage of the bill,
and passed without a dissenting voice.

Time was short. The legislature was drawing to a
close. Davis mounted his favorite saddle horse and
rode to Knoxville, a distance of twent}7-seven miles,
arriving in time to catch a train for Nashville that
same evening. Tuesday morning when the legislature
met, Davis was back at his post with the resolutions.
' The bill passed and became a law, and Judge Nelson
now holds court in Sevierville. This was the third
trip that deputy sheriff Tom Davis made to Nash-
ville in the interest and welfare of his native county,
at his own expense.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MURDER OF BRUCE LEWELLEN.

Three miles east of Sevierville, on the Flat Creek
road, is situated Milican Grove church, and almost
within the shadow of this beautiful little country
church occurred one of the most blood-curdling mur-
ders in the history of White-cap depredations.

The church sets close by the roadside on the north,
overshadowed by a neat little grove of oak and hickory
trees. On the south side of the road is a thick under-
growth of oak and pine, and through the center of
this clump of brush and thick undergrowth is a path
running directly to the south.

It was along this dreary pathway, on a starless
night, in the month of April, 1892, that Bruce
Lewellen was plodding his way alone to meet some
of his fellow White-caps, little dreaming that he
was then making his last foot-prints upon earth
and along this familiar pathway which he had so
often trodden before. But alas, poor Bruce, he was
doomed to meet death that night, for at that
very moment two murderers lay in wait, concealed
in the bushes close by the roadside, thirsting for
the life-blood of their fellow man. The}' were mem-
bers of the notorious band of White-caps who had
been detailed to commit the bloody crime, and like
demons they waited patiently to hear the familiar foot-
steps of the young man whose confidence they had
betrayed.

82 THE WHITE-CAPS.

Suddenly, and without a moment's warning, a loud
report was heard, and Bruce Lewellen fell to the
ground a lifeless corpse. His head was filled with
buckshot, evidently from a shot gun fired at close
range.

David Mitchell, an old man living near by, heard the
shot that forever sealed the fate of Bruce L,ewellen,
but thought nothing of it at the time, as it was a
common occurrence in that neighborhood.

Early the next morning two small boys stumbled
upon his dead body as they chanced to pass that way
going to mill. The alarm was given, and the neigh-
bors gathered in, and he was laid to rest the following
day in the Alderbranch cemetery. At the funeral it
was whispered around that he had been killed by the
White-caps, but everybody seemed to be afraid to talk
on the subject.

The circumstances leading up to this tragedy are as
follows : Bruce L,ewellen was a White-cap. The
White-caps had given his mother notice that they
were going to wliip her. Young Lewellen rebelled
against them and vowed they should never whip his
mother. It so happened that about this time officers
and citizens had set traps for the White-caps at
Douglass' Ferry and other points. They began to
grow uneasy. Their plans were being foiled and their
forces began to weaken. That some one was making
known their plans was an evident 'fact, beyond any
question. Who had more cause for turning informer
than Bruce L/ewellen? After a consultation among
themselves, it was decided that he was the " traitor "
who was furnishing the officers with this information

THE WHITE-CAPS. 83

and thus betraying them into the hands of their
enemies.

According to their oath, it was binding upon the
organization to put to death any one revealing the
proceedings of their order ; hence the decision that
Lewellen was guilty of this offence and that immediate
steps should be taken to seal his lips forever by send-
ing him to eternity.

Their plans were made and Lewellen was summoned
to meet them at a point where they had often met
before, and only a short distance from where he met
death on that fatal night. He was asked as to what
particular path he would come, there being many
by-paths through the densely wooded forest which he
could travel that night. Soon after dark, he stepped
out at the front door of his humble home and disap-
peared in the inky darkness, never to return. Thus
ending the life of a young man who might have led a
better life and made a useful citizen had he not fallen
into the hands of older men who were, by far, more
experienced in the commission of crime.

Bruce Lewellen died for a crime which he had
not committed. The information supposed to have
been furnished by him was given out by a prominent
man of their order whom they had never suspected
and one in whom they have the utmost confidence
even to this day.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE MURDER OF ELI WILLIAMSON.

At the foot of Webb's mountain, fourteen miles
from Sevierville, on the Emert's Cove road, stands an
old delapidated log house. On a hot day in July, in
the year 1892, William Sneed and Houston Romines
were seen walking side by side down the road in the
direction of this house. They were talking in a low
tone and Sneed was carrying an old-fashioned, long-
barrel rifle. On reaching the fence, they halted for a
moment, Romines drew a long-bladed knife and walked
to the back door while Sneed went in at the front.

Eli Williamson was not a coward, and was not afraid
to fight with equal chances. He was unarmed and
saw at a glance that he would be overpowered. He
rushed to the back end of the house, threw up his
hands and begged for his life. Sneed lowered his gun,
took deadly aim and fired. Williamson fell to the
floor, writhing in pain and expired a few hours later.
This was the first murder committed in Sevier county
traceable directly to the White-caps.

A few nights previous to this, the White-caps had
gone to the home of Julia Ramsey, intending to give
her a whipping, but Eli Williamson and Henry Proffit
were there that night and opened fire on them. When
they attempted to batter down the door, a regular
pitched battle followed which resulted in the defeat of
the White-caps.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 85

Lewallen Sneed, brother of William Sneed, was shot
in the leg in this affray, enraging the Sneeds against
the Williamsons, and while his brother was still suffer-
ing from the wound received that night, William
Sneed avenged him by taking the life of Eli Wil-
liamson.

Excitement ran high for a time. The citizens
offered a reward of fifty dollars for Sneed, but he
succeeded in making his way through the Smoky
mountains into North Carolina and is still at large.

This put an end to White-capping in Emert's Cove.
The citizens banded together under the leadership of
John S. Springs and vowed they would hang the first
man caught in disguise.

John S. Springs, who led the opposition in Emert's
Cove, was a man of great courage, backed up with an
iron will and invincible determination. The White-
caps had done no injury to any of his relatives or close
friends, yet he did not hesitate to speak out against
them. He talked to their faces, saying that " Any
man, or set of men, who would go at the dead hours of
midnight under the cover of darkness, with masks on
their faces, and overpower and drag a poor defenseless
woman from her home and lash her back, was a base
coward and not worthy of citizenship. Perhaps it
would not be out of place to mention in this connec-
tion that John S. Springs was foreman of the grand
jury when true bills were returned against the mur-
derers of the Whaley family, and is now a deputy
sheriff under sheriff Tom Davis.

White-capping in Sevier county first began in
Emert's Cove, but ceased as abruptly as it began.

CHAPTER XV.

BATTLE NEAR HENDERSON'S SPRINGS.

On a cold November night in the year 1894 the
people in the neighborhood of Henderson's Springs
were startled by the firing, in rapid succession, of
perhaps one hundred shots. They were heard for
several miles around and ceased as abruptly as they
began. For a moment an oppressive stillness
reigned, then the clatter of horses' hoofs and the
splashing of water could be heard in every direction.
Marauding bands of White-caps were heading for
home with the speed of fleet horses, regardless of
fences, roads or fords. The nearest routes were taken
and the river was crossed that night at points where it
had never been crossed betore.

A detachment each of White-caps and a sheriff's
posse had met on the battle-field and the White-caps
were routed.

All within hearing distance knew a battle had been
fought, but what was the result ? No one knew.

Imagine the aching hearts of mother and daughter
waiting in suspense for the return of husband, father
or brother, or for news from the battlefield.

The particulars were not known until the following
day when it was learned that Elijah Helton, of the'
sheriff's posse, and Laban Latham and Isaac Keeble, of
the White-cap band, were killed, and M. V. Lewellen,
of the sheriff's posse, was wounded.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 87

The causes leading up to this tragedy are as follows :
Many outrages had been committed in the neighbor-
hood. Among those who had been whipped were
Benjamin Farr and Ruth Massey.

Benjamin Farr was an old and inoffensive negro
and far above the average of his race in point of
intelligence. When the Houk and Gibson congres-
sional contest was at fever heat, " Uncle Ben," as he
was familiarly known, took the stump for Houk. He
was surprised one night to awake and find his
bedside surrounded by a number of masked men. He
was taken out and after a cruel beating they placed
him on a stump, saying :

" Now, d- n you, make a speech for Gibson."

Uncle Ben took in the situation. He was not like a
man who could not make a speech. He proceeded
with his argument to the satisfaction of all present.

Ruth Massey, wife of James Massey and sister-in-law
of Dr. Z. D. Massey, was a beautiful young woman,
but, like other unfortunate young women, had strayed
from the path of virtue.

The White-caps battered down the door of the
Massey home and both husband and wife were taken
in their night apparel into the open air. Two men
stood with cocked revolvers pointed in the husband's
face, two others held Ruth's arms locked around a
tree, while two others, one on each side of the unfor-
tunate woman, proceeded to lash her with buggy
whips. They turned her night clothes over her head,
commenced at her feet and took lash about, until they
had whipped her from foot to head. The poor woman,
in the clutches of the heartless band of hellish demons,
said :

88 THE WHITE-CAPS.

" Let me down till I die."

They let her go and she fell to the ground in a
swoon. Thinking she was dead they carried her
into the house, and laying her on the bed, stayed with
her until she regained consciousness.

This was one of the most cruel whippings that had
ever occurred in Sevier county, and the people,
enraged almost beyond control, longed for an oppor-
tunity to avenge the cruel deed.

It came at last. William Brown, a member of the
band admitted to their councils, who had been present
on some of their whipping expeditions, in an
unguarded moment, took into his confidence Benjamin
Farr and imparted to him all the secrets and signs of
the organization. He also told of their future plans
and of a plot to whip James Massey and blow up
Pink Rauhuff 's house with dynamite or burn him out
with coal oil.

Uncle Ben had no love for the midnight raiders
and was not long in communicating this important
information to the enemies of the outlaws.

Relying on this information, early in the morning of
this eventful day in November, Elijah Helton came to
Sevierville and informed sheriff Maples of the pro-
posed raid of the White-caps and asked his assistance
in intercepting them.

Chancery court was then in session and the sheriff
had his hands full, but he deputized Mr. Helton and
M. F. Nichols and instructed them to summon all the
good citizens in the neighborhood and, if possible, to
defeat this devilish plot. The citizens met at Hender-

ASSISTANT ATTORNEY-GENERAL K. A. MYNATT.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 89

son's Springs soon after dark, their plans were agreed
upon and they started at once in the direction of James
Massey's house.

The conflict took place at a point only one half
mile from the famous summer resort, Henderson's
Springs, where a narrow road runs around the craggy
cliff overhanging the beautiful Pigeon river.

The citizens on duty that night were Elijah Helton,
M. F. Nichols, W. A. Henderson, A. W. Nichols, M.
V. Lewellen, John Myers and Pink Rauhuff,

They took the road to Massey's house leading
around the bluff. M. F. Nichols, Henderson and
Myers were about thirty steps in front of Helton and
Lewellen. The night was quite dark. Suddenly they
met four unmasked men who pulled their hats over
their faces and passed in single file on the upper side
of the road.

The men in front failed to recognize any of them,
and while suspicious, were not certain that they
belonged to the band of raiders.

In a moment the four suspicious characters met
Helton and Lewellen ; some words were passed which
could not be heard distinctly, but a volley of pistol
shots were fired, followed immediately by a roar of
shot guns. The first shot fired by the White-caps
struck Lewellen square in the breast and knocked him
off of the bluff.

In the meantime, Helton had emptied both barrels
of his shot gun and two of the White- caps fell to the
ground. Helton threw out his two empty shells and
was in the act- of reloading when James Gibson, a
White-cap, rushed up and fired two pistol shots at

go THE WHITE-CAPS.

close range which went crushing through Helton's
brain. A regular fusilade of shots from the three
men in front compelled the two White-caps yet unhurt
to beat a hasty retreat, one of them with two holes in
his hat.

This was an unexpected meeting and neither side
had their full force present. The main body of the
White-caps were assembled in a little grove near
Henderson's Springs, while A. W. Nichols and Pink
Rauhuff were watching the road a few hundred yards
down the river. The firing was distinctly heard by
both sides and a stampede followed. Nichols and
Rauhuff came running down the road to overtake their
friends and suddenly stumbled upon the dead bodies
of Helton and Keeble. They did not take time to see
who it was, but wheeled around and retraced their
steps in double quick time.

I/ewellen started for home, suffering excruciating
pain from the wound in his breast. He died a year
later of consumption, thought to have been caused by
the wound he received that night, as the ball was
never located.

Mitchell Nichols and William Henderson left the
main road and wound their way around the foot of
the bluff and waded the river, up to their necks, at a
point where they had never crossed before, All this
time they could hear distinctly the pitiful groans of
L,aban L,atham pleading :

"Oh, my God; I am shot and dying. Friends
come to me."

After crossing the river they stopped again to listen,
and Nichols thought he recognized the voice of his

THE WHITE-CAPS. 9 1

brother "Ash." They were almost frozen to death,
but stealthily slipped up the river bank opposite to
where Latham was lying. With only a narrow stream
between them, the groans of Latham fell distinctly
upon the ears of the anxious listeners as he cried out :

" Oh, Jim, where are you ! I am shot and bleeding
to death."

They soon decided he was not one of their friends
and departed for home.

On arriving at home Nichols found that his brother
Ash had not returned. All night long he walked the
floor exclaiming :

" Oh, my God ! The poor unfortunate man is dying
all alone by the river side. Surely, it must be brother
Ash."

He could not stand it any longer, and returned that
he might hear the voice once more. But a death-like
silence reigned over the weird scene and not a sound
could be heard save the doleful hooting of an owl that
sat on the over-hanging cliff.

His brother Ash was then at the house of Pink
Rauhuff fearing that one of the dead bodies over
which he had stumbled was his brother Mitchell.

There was an old sack under the dead body of
Keeble, containing three White-cap suits, which told
plainly his business on that fateful night.

Immediately following this occurrence, feeling ran
high in the community. Each family sympathized
with one side or the other, and life-time friendships
were dissolved. William Brown, the informant,
together with Jesse and Isaac Brown, the two latter

92 THE WHITE-CAPS.

having also joined the White-caps, became alarmed
and decided to turn state's evidence, which they did,
and then in quick succession followed the arrests of
Dan Davis, captain of the band, and two of his boys,
John Blair, William Wear, George Montgomery, L,on
Carnes, John Norton, Henry McMahan and Arthur
and John Seatou, all charged with the whipping of
Ben Farr and Ruth Massey.

They all waived a trial before a Justice of the Peace
and gave bond for their appearance at court. When
court convened, in the selection of the grand jury two
White-caps were chosen, hence no true bills were
found and the men were released.

The White-caps were encouraged by this act and
boasted that the court was in sympathy with them
and that nothing could or would be done to punish
them for their lawless acts.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE MURDER OF TOM GIBSON.

On Saturday evening, early in the month of April,
1895, there came into the little town of Sevierville an
old man whose face looked sad and care-worn.

He was not clad in the best of clothes, yet he had
an honest face, and a reputation which gave him credit
in any store in the town.

Before leaving town he bought a quarter sack of
flour, and with a smile on his face he carried it away
on his back, with the remark :

"I will have biscuit for breakfast Sunday morning.''

But before the sun rose that Sabbath morning Tom
Gibson lay cold in death upon the floor of his humble
cabin home.

He was the victim of a band of midnight assassins,
known as White-caps, or Grave Yard Hosts, who were
on one of their lawless raids. Within a brief space of
time his once happy home was broken up and shrouded
in darkness and death.

On the night of this cruel murder the White- caps
had first visited the home of Jerry Woodsby. Woodsby
lived on James Catlett's farm about two miles from
Sevierville.

He had been working for Catlett previous to this
time, but for some cause, unknown to the writer,
had left his employ.

94 THE WHITE-CAPS.

The White-caps surrounded his house and he was
told to open the door. Woodsby, surmising what this
command meant, refused to do so.

With a heavy fence-rail, in the hands of strong men,
the door was soon battered down and Woodsby was
overpowered and taken out of the house, and an un-
merciful whipping was the result. He was led back
to the house, writhing in pain from the cruel lashes
that had been laid upon his bare back, and told to go
back to work for James Catlett at once, or they would
return and double the dose. There was no cause for
the whipping of Woodsby except the one stated above.

Soon the band disappeared from the home of
Woodsby, and proceeded in the direction of Thomas
Gibson's cabin, which was only a short distance away
His door was also battered down in like manner.
Instantly a half dozen well-masked men stepped inside
and informed the old man that they had come to whip
his daughter.

The father, no doubt, realized the situation, and
knew full well that to resist meant death. ,

Gallic, his oldest daughter, had been the tender care
of the old man for many years. He had toiled in the
heat of summer, had struggled along through the
dreary months of winter, and had gone through many
hardships that his little family might not go in want.
He had looked into the face of his prattling babe, had
seen her pass through the halcyon days of child-hood
and girl-hood, and had now just reached young woman-
hood. After enduring the hardships of many years,
he must now either stand by and see his oldest daughter
subjected to a cruel beating at the hands of an unmerci-

THE WHITE-CAPS. 95

ful baud of outlaws, or make a feeble resistance. He
chose the latter, and died like a hero, defending his
humble home. Tom Gibsqn was a poor man and had
neither gun nor pistol at his command. He rose with
a chair in his hand, and was just in the act of dealing
the captain of the band a blow, when the contents of
a double-barreled shot-gun was discharged, striking
him squarely in the breast.

He reeled and fell backward and expired without
uttering a word. The White-caps remained only for
a moment and then disappeared from the scene of their
awful crime, leaving their victim lying upon the floor,
weltering in his blood.

The wife and daughter, in the meantime, had gone
out at the kitchen door and made good their escape.
It was a dark, gloomy night, and after a long and weary
tramp they found their way to a neighbor's house.
But no one dared go near the place until next morning.

As soon as the news reached Sevierville, which was
early the following day, Sheriff Maples, Dr. Massengill,
Dr. Walker, Judge Houk and many others left for the
scene of the murder. The people in Sevierville were
slow to believe that such a horrible crime had been
committed within two miles of the little town, and yet
not hear of it until the following day.

Sheriff Maples and his posse were not long on the
way to the Gibson home, and returned, perhaps, in less
time than it had taken them to go. Their blood boiled
as they gazed at the scene. All night long he lay in a
pool of blood, and not a friend had dared to give the
heart-broken family any assistance, for fear that they
too would meet a like fate.

96 THE WHITE-CAPS.

On the return of sheriff Maples the first report was
verified, and the news spread like wildfire. The whole
town and surrounding country was wrought up over
this crime committed by the White-caps.

A determined effort was made to spot the guilty
parties. The only blood hounds in the county were
owned or controlled by William Wynn. He was
appealed to for assistance, but refused to go, or even
let his dogs go.

County court met in a few days, and sheriff Maples
asked for an appropriation to buy a pair of blood
hounds. It was discussed quite freely among the jus-
tices. During the discussion, deputy sheriff Tom Davis
arose and sai4 :

"This court has just appropriated a large sum of
money to build a new court house. Crime after crime
is being committed by a band of White-caps, and to
invest a small sum of money in a pair of blood hounds
to run them down, and thus regain the good name
of Sevier county, would be of vast more importance
to the county than a new court house to try them
in."

The vote was taken and the money appropriated.

But the White-caps saw danger approaching, and a
hasty consultation was held, in which it was decided
that some immediate steps must be taken to bar this
appropriation.

Accordingly a bill was filed in the Chancery Court,
by Jesse Atchley, to enjoin the county court from
making this appropriation.

The Chancery Court did not meet for six or eight
months, and when it did meet the court decided in

THE WHITE CAPS. 97

favor of the complainants. Thus the White-caps
scored another victory.

By this time the excitement had subsided to some
extent, and it was hoped that the White-caps would
see the error of their way and refrain from the com-
mission of other outrageous murders.

But such was not the case, as you will see from
reading the following chapters.

The alleged cause for the attempted whipping of
Gibson's daughter was that she was not living up to
the moral standard demanded by a few Sevier county
toughs. And toughs they were, for by this time^all
good men who had once favored white-capping, had
seen to their own sorrow that it was a great mistake.

From the best information that can be had we do
not doubt but that the young daughter of Gibson had
strayed from the path of virtue. Yet she was Tom
Gibson's daughter and at home under the parental
roof, and as near and dear to him, dear reader, as your
daughter is to you.

CHAPTER XVII.

MURDER OF AARON M'MAHAN.

Among the many murders in Sevier county growing
out of White-capping, none perhaps has been so bold
and reckless as that of Aaron McMahan who was shot
and killed from ambush in the month of July, 1896,
by Newt Green and West Hendricks.

There is no doubt that this murder was instigated
by the White-caps, and that Green and Hendricks
were full-fledged members of that organized band of
outlaws. The facts leading up to this murder are
about as follows :

Aaron McMahan. who was killed as above stated,
lived in the Sixth district of Sevier county in
what is known in East Tennessee as Wear's Valley,
one of the most beautiful little valleys in East Tennes-
see, nestling as it does at the foot of the great Smoky
mountains, and claiming for its citizenship many of
the best citizens of Sevier county.

Among them was Aaron McMahan, a substantial
farmer and a hard-working, industrious man. He was
about fifty years old and had a wife and a large family
of children, some of whom were grown up and
married and had family circles of their own, while his
youngest was an infant at the mother's breast.

Green and Hendricks were cousins and McMahan
was their uncle, his wife being a sister of Green's
father and Hendricks' mother. Green and Hendricks

THE WHITE-CAPS. 99

lived near each other in the hills about three or four
miles north of Wear's Valley, near Pigeon Forge,
which place has had more White-caps than any other
locality in Sevier county, according to accepted
reports.

McMahan's daughter had married James Clabough,
a poor but respected citizen of the county, who, at the
time of the murder and prior to that time, had been
living in what is known as the L,ittle Cove, near to the
home of Green and Hendricks, and on the public road
leading into Wear's Valley.

Clabough's wife had been accused by the White-caps
of not being virtuous, and as they felt called upon,
under their code of morals, to correct all unchaste
conduct in their neighbors, they had, only a short time
before the killing of McMahan, gone to the Clabough
home, dragged Mrs. Clabough out of bed and house
in the night and administered to her an unmerciful
whipping.

The McMahan family were, of course, aroused over
the matter and expressed their opinion freely against
the White-caps and the cowardly night attacks on
defenseless women.

Green and Hendricks, with others, were accused of
being in the gang that had whipped Mrs. Clabough,
and prosecutions and trials had grown out of it, one of
the trials occurring before J. A. Tarwater, Esq., in
Wear's Valley, on the day before the murder.

The next morning after the trial, Aaron McMahan,
his son Amos, and James Clabough, his son-in-law,
with a two-horse wagon loaded with wheat, went to the
Pigeon Forge Mills. While at the mills waiting to

100 THE WHITE-CAPS.

have their wheat ground, some of the White-caps came
up and they all became engaged in a general quarrel
growing out of the whipping of Mrs. Clabough.

About the middle of the afternoon, McMahan, his
son and son-in-law, started for their home in Wear's
Valley, about eight miles distant. As they were pas-
sing through L,ittle Cove, about four o'clock, in a
lonely and secluded place with hills and dense woods
on each side of the road, two gun shots suddenly
rang out on that July evening which cost Aaron
McMahan his life and dangerously wounded his two
companions.

The horses, frightened by the gun shots, instantly
became unmanageable and ran away. The elder
McMahan, although having received his death wound,
was conscious of what was happening, yet was power-
less to stop the flying steeds, while Clabough received
a wound in the back of the neck which so shocked
him that he fell from the wagon unconscious and was
left lying prostrate in the road. The younger
McMahan, while not seriously wounded, having only
received a flesh wound in the leg, was so dazed and
frightened that he failed to realize the condition of
affairs.

The team, however, was stopped by some parties
who met it, and the wounded men taken to the nearest
house, which was John Myers'. The news soon
spread from house to house until the whole commun-
ity was aroused and had gathered at the place where
the wounded men lay. Dr. Massey, of Sevierville, was
at once sent for and did all he could to allay their
suffering. Clabough and young McMahan recovered,

THE WHITE- CAPS. lot

but Aaron McMahan, after lingering and suffering
untold agonies for about ten days, died with the
declaration on his lips that Newt Green and West
Hendricks killed him.

It was, indeed, a heart-rending scene to see three
inoffensive, law-abiding citizens of the county lying
prostrated upon couches with blood issuing from
ghastly wounds which meant certain death to one of
them. The groans of the men, shot down in broad
day light, without cause and without notice, mingled
with the piteous cries of wives with babes in their
arms and little children clinging to their skirts in terror,
brought tears to the eyes of the stout-hearted men who
had gathered around the house in large numbers, and
they no doubt vowed in their hearts that the cowards
who had committed this foul murder should be pun-
ished, and that White-capism in Sevier county must
cease.

The good resolutions there formed were kept,
for West Hendricks and Newt Green are now serving
an imprisonment of twenty years in the state peniten-
tiary, and the White-cap organization is now extinct
and its leaders scattered.

There is no doubt as to the guilt of Green and
Hendricks. They planned and perpetrated this bloody
broad da)7light assassination, and the only wonder is
that a jury should return a verdict of murder in the
second degree and fix their punishment at twenty
years in the penitentiary instead of condemning them
to pay the penalty on the gallows.

Green and Hendricks were seen on the day of the
murder near the place where the shooting occurred

102 THE WHITE-CAPS.

with guns, and were passed by McMahan and his asso-
ciates that morning on their way to the mill at Pigeon
Forge.

Aaron McMahan said from the very first that Green
and Hendricks had shot him ; that he heard a noise in
the woods near the roadside, and just as he looked
around and saw them their guns were discharged ;
that one was a rifle and the other a shot gun. To this
statement he adherred unequivocally until he died,
having made two or three formal dying declarations to
this effect.

The accused men were at once arrested and given a
preliminary hearing before Esquires J. A. Bryan and
J. A. Tarwater who first held them to court under
heavy bond for felonious assault, but after Aaron
McMahan died a new warrant was issued charging
them with murder, and they were held to court by J.
R. Houk, Esq., without bond. They applied after-
wards for bail under writ of habeas corpus before Judge
Hicks, but it was denied them and they remained in
the Sevier county jail until they were tried at the
March term, 1897, of the circuit court, which resulted
as above stated in a sentence of twenty years in the
penitentiary. Pending an appeal to the supreme
court, Green and Hendricks with a number of other
prisoners overpowered the jailer, H. D. Bailey, and
made good their escape.

Among those who made their escape with Green
and Hendricks was the notorious George Thurmer,
who is well known in criminal circles and who was
afterwards recaptured in the state of Kentucky by
deputy ^sheriff Tom Davis, who has so long been a

THE WHITE-CAPS. 103

terror to criminals in Sevier county and especially to
the White-caps.

After their escape from jail, Green and Hendricks
scouted in different parts of Sevier county, but most
of the time in the hill country around Pigeon Forge
and Ivittle Cove where they were harbored and pro-
tected by their White-cap friends and sympathizers.

Many were the stories that were afloat during the
summer of 1897 as to the boldness with which these
two criminals travelled over the community and along
the public highways, sometimes at work in the fields
and at other times attending public gatherings in the
community and yet not discovered or recaptured by
the officers of the law. To what extent these reports
are true we do not know, but it is safe to say they
played a bold hand, and, backed by their White-cap
associates and sympathizers, they played the Jesse
James act pretty well in defying the officers of the
law.

Much interest was centered in the trial of these two
White-cap murderers. J. R. Penland, Esq., who
has shown a keen interest in putting an end to White-
capping in Sevier county and restoring to her and her
people the good name they formerly bore, was retained
by Aaron McMahau, prior to his death and after he
had received his death wounds, to prosecute his slayers.

He undertook the duty and prosecuted the case
with all the vigor and ability characteristic of this
well known lawyer. The defendants were represented
by W. W. Mullendore, Geo. L. Zirkle, W. G. Caton
and A. M. Paine, an able array of counsel, but with all
their ability and all the aid which the White-cap

104 TH]B WHITE'-CAPS.

organization could bring to them in the way of proof
and witnesses, and in the selection of jurors, yet a jury
of twelve men said that they were guilty and should
suffer for their bloody deed.

As before stated, it is difficult to see how the jury
could return a verdict of murder in the second degree
when the facts seem to make it a most aggravated
case of murder in the first degree, yet it is just one of
those unexpected results which often occur in jury
trials.

While Green and Hendricks, after their escape from
jail, had remained for several months among their
friends in Sevier county secure from the officers of the
law, yet they concluded that it would be safer for
them to roam in different fields, and it is said that
during the July term of the circuit court in Sevierville,
1897, they boldly walked into the town after dark and,
with friends, hired a hack from a livery stable and
drove to Knoxville that night and on the following
morning boarded the west bound train for the L,one
Star state.

The chief cause of their sudden departure from
this section is supposed to be the presence of Judge
Nelson who was to hold the Circuit Court of Sevier
county in the place of Judge Hicks. It was under-
stood by the White-caps, whether true or not; that the
new judge was sent there especially to deal with them,
and it seems that his presence did strike terror in their
ranks.

So Green and Hendricks made up their minds to
leave at the time stated, but it is asserted on reliable
authority that several important meetings were held

THE" WHITE-CAPS. 105

prior to their departure in which it was decided to do
some desperate things. At one of these meetings it
was agreed that Dr. Massey, who was an important
witness against Green and Hendricks on their trial, J.
R. Penland, who had prosecuted them, and Tom Davis,
whom they hated worse than Satan, should all be put
to death, and that Green and Hendricks were the ones
delegated by the mystic order to execute this desper-
ate scheme.

One of the White-caps gave out this story, whether
true or not, by informing one of the parties that such
an agreement was made and such an order given in
their meeting. He told of the time and manner in
which the crime was to be committed in order that he
might be on guard and protect himself against his
would-be assassins, as the informer wras a better friend
of his than of the White-caps. In this way the three
named gentlemen were put on their guard and no
doubt would have given their assailants a warm recep-
tion if they had been attacked, but on that very night
Green and Hendricks left Sevier county in the manner
above stated.

It is to be hoped that the above story was not true,
but if they would deliberately waylay the McMahans
in broad daylight and without warning murder them,
would they not be equally willing to wreak vengeance
on others, especially when urged and ordered to do so
by the organization .which had sheltered them in their
extremity ?

No doubt the White-cap organization, and particu-
larly some of its members who almost felt the halter
tightening around their necks, were especially anxious

106 THE WHITE-CAPS.

to get rid of the three men marked as the victims of
that midnight conspiracy. But even some good may
come out of Nazareth. As bad as the White-caps
were and whatever bad there was in the one who
revealed this murderous scheme, yet he is to be com-
mended for having averted a crime which would again
have blackened the character of Sevier county.

We close this chapter by saying that a condition of
society that will allow men to be shot down in broad
daylight on the public highways while following their
lawful and peaceful avocations, and after-ward to shield
and harbor the perpetrators in the community where
it is done is an appalling state of affairs indeed. And
yet such was the history surrounding the murder of
poor Aaron McMahan.

HENDRICKS. SHERIFF DAVIS. GREEN.

CHAPTER XVIII.

CAPTURE OF GREEN AND HENDRICKS.

The capture of Newt Green and West Hendricks
was the last and most important capture made by Tom
Davis while deputy sheriff of Sevier county. Green
and Hendricks were two notorious White-caps, and
murderers of Aaron McMahan, as detailed in the
preceding chapter.

They were arrested soon after the murder, by
sheriff M. F. Maples and deputy sheriff R. C. McGill,
and placed in the Sevierville jail. They, however,
were not satisfied with their accommodations and soon
afterwards made their escape. For many months they
ran at large, spending most of their time in the moun-
tains of Sevier county, near their old home, where
they knew every by-path and had plenty of friends.

Sheriff Maples and his deputies laid many plans and
set many traps for these two wily offenders, but Newt
and Wes, as they were familiarly known, were " slick
ducks," and many times when the officers were elated
over the prospects of their capture it was found, to
their great surprise, that some gap had been left open
and their game had fled.

Newt and Wes were naturally shrewd, and there
was no one who could endure more hardships than
either of these mountain boys. The country surround-
ing their old home was one continuous range of rugged
mountains. This and their many friends afforded
them great protection from the officers of the law.

110 THE WHITE-CAPS.

But by and by the officers made it too hot for them
and they "pulled their freight" for parts unknown.

On Wednesday, during the July term of the Circuit
court, 1897, the town of Sevierville was thrown into
great excitement over the current report that Tom
Davis, attorney J. R. Penland and Dr. Z. D. Massey
were to be killed that night. Newt Green and Wes
Hendricks were detailed to do the job. It was a well-
laid plan, and had it not been for a friend of Dr.
Massey, who was a member of the lawless band, giving
him timely warning, the plan would no doubt have
been carried into effect, and, perhaps, remained a
mystery forever. For who would have suspected
Green and Hendricks, who were then hiding in the
mountains to avoid capture, of committing another
crime, equally atrocious?

Judge Nelson learned of what was happening and
ordered sheriff Maples to summon a posse of men
to intercept Green and Hendricks and capture them at
all hazards, dead or alive.

Sheriff Maples lost no time in calling his men
together. A consultation was held and his forces
divided, sending Tom Davis with a part of them on
one road, while he took the remainder and started up
the west prong of the river. It was a dark, dreary
night. Two miles up the river, Sheriff Maples met
some suspicious parties, on top of a hill. Neither
party spoke. The sheriff and his posse rode to the
foot of the hill, held a hasty consultation and decided
to follow, as they were going in the direction of
Sevierville, and, if possible, learn their mission. Evi-
dently, the other party had also decided to watch the

THE WHITE-CAPS. Ill

sheriff's party, as both met again on top of the hill,
the same spot where they had met only a few minutes
before.

Sheriff Maples and his men dashed to the foot of the
hill, dismounted, and on foot slipped around to the
other side of the hill just in time to see the other
party fording the river at a break-neck speed,
having left the main road ; and soon after, the clatter
of hoofs died away in the distance. The sheriff and
his men returned to Sevierville, and everything was
quiet once more.

Green and Hendricks left that night for parts
unknown. But soon their old enemy was again on
their trail. Tom Davis disappeared from Sevierville
also, and for three long weeks he traversed the moun-
tains of western North Carolina in a vain effort to
capture these notorious outlaws who had so often
boasted of their success in eluding the officers of the
law. Tom's failure did not discourage him in the
least. He was not disheartened, but on the contrary,
vowed he would yet capture Green and Hendricks.
His ever-restless spirit nerved him on to greater effort
and final success.

Weeks went by and, apparently, no effort was being
made to apprehend these two outlaws. Davis, how-
ever, was working a clew which finally led to their
capture. Again he disappeared, and not a friend
knew his whereabouts, except his brother-in-law,
Andrew L,ove and Dr. Z. D. Massey. He was on his
way to Texas, feeling sure of success. In due time,
he reached Paris, Texas, in complete disguise as a book
agent. His disguise, perhaps, was more like the garb

112 THE WHITE-CAPS.

worn by members of the Salvation army, as he was
frequently asked if he was a captain of that organi-
zation.

The sheriff of Paris tendered him a cordial welcome,
but where were Green and Hendricks? They had
disappeared, and not a trace of them could be found.

Dr. Z. D. Massey, a relentless enemy of the White-
caps and a life-long friend of Tom Davis, was working
the other end of the line. A telegram came :

" Your men at Honey Grove. — Z. D. MASSEY."

Tom arrived at Honey Grove7 thirty miles beyond
Paris, at sunset the same evening. Officers were
anxious to lend a helping hand, and the whole country
for miles around was scoured. But again the game had
flown. Green and Hendricks had been seen about
there, but had disappeared as completely as though the
earth had opened and swallowed them.

In the meantime, the two outlaws, becoming uneasy,
had boarded a freight train, at midnight, and were on
their way back to New Boston, over the same road
they had travelled a few days before. Davis received
another telegram :

"Your men at New Boston, going by the names of
Prank Nolan and Charley Harrison. — Z. D. MASSEY."

The news came too late to catch the passenger train
that night, so he undertook to board a freight train,
but the conductor told him that he was a new man
and that the old conductor had been discharged for
allowing two strange men to ride to New Boston a few
nights before. Tom's face lit up as he exclaimed
"Where is that man?"

THE WHITE-CAPS. 113

The man was found and furnished an accurate
description of the two men wanted. Tom grew more
anxious than ever, and was at the depot next morning
long before the train was due. He arrived at New
Boston where he found the deputy sheriff, Ed Lynch,
waiting his arrival. But the officers were out-done
again. Green and Hendricks had arrived in the
night, disappeared in the night, and left no trace
behind.

For several days the two officers scoured the country
together, but in vain. The trail had been completely
lost. The local officers gave up the chase and
returned to New Boston.

Deputy sheriff Davis began preparing to return
home. He had kept up his courage all the while. For
eight long months he had followed their foot steps
over the rugged mountains of East Tennessee, and
now he was trying his hand with them on the plains
of Texas and had been out-witted.

But " fortune favors the brave." While standing
at the depot, waiting for a train, a cattle trader came
riding into town. Deputy sheriff Lynch said " There
goes a man who has been all over eastern Texas, buy-
ing cattle. He is a man who never forgets a face."

This man, when questioned about the fugitives,
said, "Yes, I have seen your men, eleven miles from
here, going in the direction of Indian Territory."

No time was lost. The two officers and the cattle
buyer, seated in a hack, were off at once in hot pursuit.
At Red river they met an old-time darkey, who, in
response to questions asked him, replied, "Yes, sir,
boss. Til tell you ; they're right over there in that
cotton gin, right now."

114 THS WHITE-CAPS.

The last plan was laid. The officers crossed the
river and the cotton gin was surrounded. Green was
arrested first, and when told by deputy sheriff Lynch
hit he was wanted at Texarkana, hung his head a
moment and then said :

" Hell, I've heard that old tale before. We ain't
done anything at Texarkana. I guess, by G — d, Tom
Davis wants us in Tennessee."

He glanced over at the othfer two officers and said :
" Hello Tom, by G — d, you've got your mustache
blacked, but I know you."

The two prisoners were hand-cuffed together and
they started at once on the return trip to New Boston,
Green and Hendricks singing " Take me back to Ten-
nessee ; there let me live and die."

They had been trapped at last, and deputy sheriff
Tom Davis returned home with his two prisoners in
charge and his ambition satisfied. He had paid out,
in all, one hundred and sixty-five dollars, but sheriff
Maples, always willing to share the burdens, tendered
his worthy deputy a hundred dollar check.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE CAPTURE OF GEORGE THURMER.

George Thurmer is a noted criminal and a native of
Knox county. At the time of his connection with
Sevier county depredations, he had just returned from
serving a term in the penitentiary for the murder of
policeman Hoyle in Knoxville.

George was a shrewd fellow, a free drinker, an
expert gambler and by no means a coward. These
were the qualifications which recommended him to the
White-caps as a suitable member for their mystic
order. Soon after his arrival in Sevierville, standing
within fifty feet of the court house, he took the
required oath, which was administered to him by
Catlett Tipton, the captain of the Sevierville band,
who is now under sentence of death for the murder of
Wm. Whaley and wife.

Soon after his admission to the order, John Burnett,
an old pensioner, was robbed. George Thurmer, along
with several others, was indicted for this crime.
George succeeded in eluding the officers for some time,
but was finally captured in Knox county by Tom
Davis and returned to Sevierville, where he was placed
in the County jail. For this capture Davis is indebted
to sheriff J. C. Groner and C. A. Reeder who rendered
him material assistance. George was too fine a bird to
remain long in a cage. So, one day, when the jailer
was just in the act of handing him his breakfast,
George seized him while others took the keys from
him, and they all made good their escape.

Il6 THE WHITE-CAPS.

Again he eluded the officers for several months.
But one day while down in a hole digging a founda-
tion for a trestle, near Pineville, Ky., he was startled
by hearing a harsh voice commanding him to throw up
his hands. On looking up he saw an officer standing
over him with a forty-four calibre pistol pointed square
at his breast. George smiled and said " That's |all
right, sir," and his hands went up. The officer was
ex-chief of police of Pineville, Ky. He was then asked
if his name was Charley Wilson.

" Yes, sir."

" Is your name Pet Thurmer ? "

" Yes, sir."

" Is your right name George Thurmer? "

"Yes, sir."

George then, in turn, began to question the officer :

" Where is Tom Davis ? "

By this time Davis was fast approaching from the
other end of the trestle. Turning him around, the
officer asked, " Do you know that man coming
yonder? "

" Yes, by G — d, that's Tom Davis now. I dreamed
last night he walked right up behind me in a saloon.
I grew uneasy and was fixing to leave as soon as pay
day come, but its too late, now. I guess I'll go back
to Tennessee with Tom. He's a good fellow, and
always pays my fare when we travel together. This
is twice he has captured me, and if I ever get out of
that old jail again he will never see me any more, for I
will go up in a balloon, cut her loose and leave no
trace behind."

THE WHITE-CAPS. 117

The two officers had laid in wait for George the
night before at Pineville, but he failed to put in his
appearance. So, mounted on two good horses, they
made their way down on the south side of the Cum-
berland river to a point just opposite the trestle,
where George was at work. Fording the river before
daylight and hitching their horses under the river
bank they placee themselves one at each end of the
trestle and waited for Thurmer to come to the works.
George walked into the trap, was captured and
returned to the Sevierville jail once more.

CHAPTER XX.

THE MURDER OF WILLIAM AND LAURA WHALEY.

The greatest crime for which Sevier county must
answer is that of the double murder of William and
L,aura Whaley in their cabin home two miles and a half
north of Sevierville on the night of December 28th,
1896. It was the work of paid assassins, and is one of
the most cruel crimes on record. For it, Pleas Wynn
and Catlett Tipton are to pay the penalty on the
gallows, and Bob Catlett and Bob Wade have yet to be
tried as accessories before the fact.

William Whaley was a mountain lad and a farmer.
He married Laura McMahan. The parents of both
were poor but respectable.

Bob Catlett was one of the largest farmers on the
French Broad river and one of the largest tax payers
in Sevier county, living six miles west of Sevierville.
For years he had exercised a controlling influence
over affairs in the county and had to his credit much
that was bad.

Pleas Wynn is the son of Captain E. M. Wynn, and
has a good wife. He was never known to do a whole
day's work, but loafed about town, sometimes fishing
and hunting for pastime.

Catlett Tipton was also a man of family who
worked at odd jobs about town and was a "pal" of
Wynn's.

Bob Catlett, Bob Wade, Pleas Wynn and Catlett
Tipton were members of the White-cap band in Sevier-

THE WHITE-CAPS. IIQ

ville, which may account for their joint participation
in this horrible crime. Catlett Tipton was the captain
of the band.

THE MOTIVES WHICH PROMPTED THE MURDER.

Every crime has a motive, and sometimes, as in this
case, is started from a most common and insignificant
circumstance — simply the leasing of a small cabin and
tract of land.

In December, 1895, William Whaley leased of Bob
Catlett a tract of land and with it the occupancy of a
small house, the rental value of which was to be paid
by a portion of the crop raised on the place. At the
time of this transaction, the cabin was occupied by
Walter Maples. It is located on the Knoxville and
Sevierville pike, near the residence of Bob Catlett.

Whaley and his wife appeared on the day fixed by
Catlett for them to take possession of the leased
premises, but Maples refused to vacate.

Catlett then gave them another house- to live in
until Maples could be dispossessed. Maples proved to
be a contumacious tenant, although Whaley made fre-
quent demands of Catlett for possession.

One night Catlett and his wife's brother, Bob Wade,
appeared at the cabin where Whaley was temporarily
quartered. Catlett gave Laura Whaley a sheet of
paper and, with his gun pointed at her, demanded her
to write a White-cap letter to Maples requiring pos-
session of the house. Laura bravely refused, but when
she looked toward her husband and saw that he was
also covered by a gun in Bob Wade's hands, and
believing Wade's warning that Catlett was drunk and

120 THE WHITE-CAPS.

would kill her if she did not, she finally consented.
Catlett gave her a notice to copy which read as
follows :

" WALTER MAPLES :

" If you do not move out of this house in five days, the
penalty of the White-caps \ ill be visited on you. The time
is half up now.— WHITE-CAPS."

" D n you, don't dot your i's and cross your t's,"

said Catlett to the poor woman.

He then administered to L,aura the fearful oath of the
order, which meant certain death if any of the secrets
of the clan were revealed. He then demanded of
1/aura one of her dress skirts which he put over his
head as a disguise, and he, Wade and William Whaley,
who at the point of a gun was forced to accompany
them, proceeded to Maple's cabin, where Whaley was
forced to nail the notice on the door.

Stones were thrown at the house and Catlett fired a
load of buckshot through the chinks, some of the shot
going into the bed in which Maples, his wife and
children were lying in abject terror.

A few days after this occurence, Maples, who was
convinced of the unhealthfulness of the locality,
moved to more congenial quarters, and Whaley took
possession of the property.

LAURA WHALEY VIOLATES THE WHITE-CAP OATH.

It has been observed that Laura Whaley had some
education and could write; her husband, therefore,
who was illiterate, depended upon her to keep an
account of his working days and the amounts due
him.

THE WHITE- CAPS. 121

Early iii the spring, Whaley had bought some
hogs of Catlett for which he gave him a bill of sale to
secure the payment, which was duly recorded in the
county register's office.

Whaley raised a crop of corn on the leased land,
bes'des working many days for Catlett for which he
had received no pay. In September, L,aura informed
her husband that the work which he had done for
Catlett was sufficient to pay for the hogs. In the
following month Whaley sold the hogs to meet other
financial obligations.

Catlett heard of it and rode over to Whaley's house,
where he found him gathering his corn. He ordered
him to " let the corn alone," and began cursing and
and abusing him for having sold mortgaged property,
and threatened to have him arrested. Whaley told
him of the number of days he had worked for him
which he supposed paid for the hogs.

Catlett was implicable, however, and procured a
warrant for Whaley's arrest. Whaley heard of the
issuance of the warrant and informed his wife.

Laura Whaley at this time was about to be confined,
and this information, coupled with the fact that her
husband had acted upon her suggestion, so worried the
poor woman that a daughter was prematurely born.

Rou. Catlett, Bob Catlett's daughter, a young school
teacher, who had the reputation of being a good, kind-
hearted and Christian woman, called at the Whaley
home to console and congratulate the young mother.
It was a neighborly, humane act, and so sympathetic
was the young teacher that it touched the heart of the
sick woman ; so much so, that she told her of the

122 THE WHITE-CAPS.

criminal warrant and also of the fearful ordeal through
which she passed on that eventful night when her
father compelled her to write the White-cap letter and
administered to her the fearful oath.

It is said that Rou. Catlett had a stormy scene with
her father that night. She pleaded and entreated her
father not to prosecute Whaley. The appeals of a
dutiful and loving daughter finally prevailed, and Rou.
obtained the coveted promise. Accordingly Catlett
notified William Whaley that he would drop the crim-
inal proceedings against him and cancel the mortgage.

" For this you shall die," he said to I/aura Whaley ;
and ordered them to leave the premises next day.

Mrs. McMahan, who was visiting her daughter for
the purpose of attending her during her confinement,
had advised her to threaten Catlett with a revelation
of the White- capping of the Maples house and use it
as a leverage to persuade Catlett to abandon the crim-
inal proceedings; but, overcome by the sympathetic
conduct of Catlett's daughter, instead of making the
threat as her mother advised, she told all the particulars
to his daughter and violated her oath of secrecy.

The next morning William Whaley placed his wife
on a bed in his wagon, and with her child, " Mollie
Lillard," only six days old, moved them to a cabin on
a hillside nearly half a mile back of the farm house of
Captain E. M. Wynn, the father of Pleas Wynn.

Whaley never received his share of the corn, nor
twelve months after the bill of sale for the hogs had
been signed had the mortgage been released on the
the records of the county.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 123

In some manner the confession of Laura Whaley
leaked out, and deputy sheriff Davis subpoenaed Wil-
liam and Laura Whaley to appear before the grand
jury at the November term of the court, 1896.

Whaley and his wife went to the court house in
Sevierville, taking with them Lizzie Chandler, an elder
sister of Mrs. Whaley, and the child, Mollie Lillard.

Laura Whaley went before the grand jury, and the
oath to tell ' ' The truth, the whole truth and nothing

CABIN ON THE WYNN FARM.

but the truth, so help you God," was administered.
It was too impressive and awe-inspiring to be disre-
garded, though she knew that it would place her life
and that of her husband and child in jeopardy. The
conduct of this poor woman, under these trying cir-
cumstances, was simply heroic. She followed the plain
path of duty unhesitatingly and fearlessly, regardless
of the dangers which threatened her.

124 THE WHITE-CAPS.

When she returned to the office of the circuit court
clerk, where Lizzie Chandler, with the child, awaited
her, she said to her :

" Lizzie, as I came through the hall I met Bob Cat-
lett and Bob Wade. They will kill us."

Catlett and Wade were indicted for the " Rocking of
the house of Walter Maples and for shooting at it."
They were arrested and gave bond. Laura Whaley
had violated the White-cap oath. The penalty was
death.

PREPARATIONS TO LEAVE THE COUNTY.

So impressed were the Whaleys with the idea that
they would be killed by or through the efforts of Bob
Catlett that they decided to move to other climes, where
they would be free from molestation.

Mrs. McMahan, the mother of Laura, lived with her
husband at Coal Creek, Tennessee. This fact induced
William Whaley to go to this place in search of work,
which he found.

As soon as he had accumulated a sufficient amount
of money, he returned to his wife and child for the
purpose of moving them to their new home.

Lizzie Chandler, having discovered that John Chand-
ler, her husband, was a worthless and thriftless fellow
and a degenerate White-cap, had left him and was
living with the Whaleys when they went before the
grand jury. She remained with her sister during
Whaley's absence at Coal Creek.

On his return he found his wife and child and Lizzie
as he had left them a month previous. Before he
could carry out his intention of moving his family to

THB WHITE-CAPS. 1 25

Coal Creek, he was taken sick with a severe attack of
the grip, and was from that time to the night of his
death a very sick man.

THE ASSASSIN HIRED AND ALIBI ARRANGED.

So determined was Bob Catlett to execute his threat
against the Whaleys, that he formulated many plans
and had frequent consultations with many of the
White-caps. Finally he offered Catlett Tipton two
hundred dollars to commit the crime. Tipton con-
fessed the offer but denied the acceptance. It was
offered to others, but declined. Pleas Wynn, however,
accepted the offer and agreed to commit the murder.

Catlett Tipton bought a box of shells containing
bird shot, and also some dynamite, several days before
the murder.

On the day of the murder, Monday, December 28th,
1896, Bob Catlett was in Sevierville and had frequent
consultations with Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton.
Early in the afternoon he started for North Carolina
with some horses which he said he wanted to sell.
The route taken by him was through the mountains,
stopping that night with George Roland, in Jones'
Cove, sixteen miles from Sevierville. He sat up until
a late hour talking for the purpose, as subsequent
events show, of establishing an alibi, should one be
necessary. *

Wynn and Tipton, in order to prove an alibi, had
made an appointment with several persons to fish that
night in Hardin's pool, less than a mile south of
Sevierville, on the west fork of the Pigeon river,
adjacent to the public road and near a farm house.
One of the parties went to Sevierville, according to

126 THE WHITE-CAPS.

agreement, and was there when the court house clock
struck five. He says that neither Wynn nor Tipton
could be found.

THE MURDER.

Just on the edge of Sevierville and close by the
bridge over the east fork of the Little Pigeon river,
stands a small one-story frame house, where the
Jenkins boys ran a "blind tiger" — selling liquor
illicitly.

At five o'clock on the evening of the 28th of Decem-
ber, just at dark, Pleas Wynn entered this house and
went into the back room where the liquor was kept.
He wore a long blue overcoat that reached nearly to
the ground, and he bought a bottle of whiskey which
he put in his pocket. He asked Joe Jenkins to lend
him his shot gun, but it had already been loaned to
other parties. Going into the room where Jap.
Jenkins was, he picked up a revolver, and, putting it
in his pocket, said :

"I may have need of this."

He then went out at the back door and on to the
stone abutment of the bridge.

From the facts adduced and the nature of the
ground about the bridge, Wynn must have gone down
the east bank of Little Pigeon river to the old ford, a
mile below town, where he was joined by Catlett Tip-
ton, who had crossed the river at this point in a boat
belonging to Mark McCowan. They then followed a
foot path to the cabin occupied by the Whaleys.

Wynn knew this path well. It was on his father's
farm, and soon after his marriage he had moved into

THE WHITE-CAPS. 127

this same cabin, and had therefore traveled this path
many a dark night.

Less than a quarter of a mile from this cabin lived
the mother and brother of William Whaley, in a cabin
not unlike the one in which William lived. Near Wil-
liam Whaley 's cabin was a stable and corn crib. In one
of these Wynn and Tipton concealed themselves for the
purpose of making observations, for a noise coming
from this direction was heard, about this time, in the
cabin and John Whaley, who was at his brother's
house, went out to discover the cause of it. He found
nothing to arouse his suspicions, however, and
re-entered the cabin.

After a stay of only a few minutes, John went
home. While at supper he heard two shots in the
direction of his brother's house, and, hastening back,
he found the dead bodies of his brother and sister-in-
law lying on the floor, but the murderers had disap-
peared.

It was about seven o'clock when John left his
brother's house and went home to supper. Laura
then undressed for the night and laid down on the bed
with her sick husband and sleeping child. Lizzie
Chandler occupied a bed in the opposite corner of the
room. In the fireplace a bright fire was burning.

Suddenly the front door was burst open and two
men entered, one unmasked and Apparently unarmed,
the other masked and carrying a gun. The first men-
tioned intruder was a man of medium height and had a
mustache (Tipton), the other, the more conspicuous of
the two from the fact that he wore a mask and carried
a gun, was a low heavy-set man wearing a blue over-

THB WHITB-CAPS. 129

coat which reached almost to his feet. Stooping down
for some purpose, his mask parted from his face and the
fire-light revealed his side-face to Lizzie Chandler,
whose eyes were riveted on the man with the gun.
Pleas Wynn was the "man with the mask," and he
had assumed the responsibility of committing the
crime.

"If you have come to kill us," pleaded William
Whaley, " we will do anything you say : but spare our
lives."

" O, Lord ! O, Lord ! If you have come to kill us,
let me give my little baby to my sister before I die,"
was Laura Whaley's appeal.

It was apparent that she realized her death was a
certainty, hence mother-like her last moments were
directed in an effort to secure the safety of her baby.
She recalled the fearful night when Bob Catlett had
compelled her to write the While-cap letter, and his
warning at that time when he said :

"We are all in this, we will die with you in this,"
meaning the White-cap oath. She also remembered
that on the night he agreed to release the mortgage
and dismiss criminal proceedings against her husband,
he added " For this you shall die."

She knew that through the instrumentality of these
two men, Bob Catlett was now keeping his word. She
also knew of previous murders by the White-caps, and
therefore fully realized her peril. There was no way
of escape. She and her husband were defenseless. It
was best to die quickly and end the agony.

She got out of bed and, taking her babe in her arms,
she pressed it to her bosom and kissed it again and

i^O THE WHITE-CAPS.

again. Then the agonized mother laid her babe in bed
with her sister L,izzie, and, breathing in the child's ear
a last farewell, covered both of their heads with the
bed-clothes. Bravely she stepped to the side of her
husband, who stood by his bed, and turning, faced her
executioners.

No woman ever acted more heroically than did this
mountain girl and wife of twenty- one summers.

Can it be possible that the greed for money was the
sole stimulant which enabled these two men to remain
during this period silent observers of this mother's
agonizing caresses of her child without exhibiting any
emotions of pity or mercy? Whiskey was not the
cause of so much nerve, for such a scene would have
sobered drunken men.

A gun shot is fired which enters the mouth of
William Whaley and he falls dead at the feet of his
wife, who, turning to look at her husband, receives
a shot in her temple which tore away the top of
her head.

As soon as Ljzzie Chandler felt sure that the
murderers had left the house she arose from the bed
and dressed herself quickly. At that moment John
Whaley entered the room.

THE MURDERERS TRACKED.

After leaving the cabin, the murderers pursued their
way through a field leaving tracks behind them. One
evidently wore a number six shoe of superior make,
the other a number nine of coarse material.

These tracks led to the ford where Tipton and
Wynn had met only an hour before on their way to

THE WHITB-CAPS. 131

the Whaley cabin. They recrossed the river at this
point on their way to constable Otis Montgomery's
house. They asked him to go fishing with them, but
he declined. It was then half past eight o'clock.
They then went to the house of Mark McCowan and
requested him to go with them. He also declined, but
loaned them his boat. While at McCowan's the clock
on the court house struck nine.

Wynn and Tipton insisted that they were fishing
on the night of the murder and were so engaged at
the time it was committed.

But, in addition to the foregoing details, other
evidence was produced implicating Wynn and Tipton.

Not long after the murder, Wynn was playing a
game of cards with Sam Jenkins, a boon companion of
his, in Dr. Henderson's barn. He asked Jenkins if
his brother, Joe Jenkins, had ever told him of his
(Wynn's) presence at the " blind tiger " on the night
of the murder.

" Yes," replied Sam, " he told me all about it."

" Well, for God's sake, don't say a word about it,"

said Wynn. "By G d, I did kill the Whaleys,

and it took a d d sight of nerve to do it, but I got

one hundred dollars for the job."

Again, not long after this admission, Wynn went to
Knoxville. While there he remarked, " Bob Wade
and Bob Catlett are not guilty of that murder. They
have got the wrong sow by the ear. I blew in two
hundred dollars d d easy and fired two shots."

There is a conflict between these two admissions —
the one he made to Sam Jenkins and the other in
Knoxville — as to the amount of money he received, •

132 THE WHITE-CAPS. •

It is evident that the murder cost Catlett two hundred
dollars. Was it divided between Wynn and Tipton, or
did Wynn receive the whole sum ?

It was necessary to get rid of Lizzie Chandler. Pub-
lic excitement was too high to attempt another murder ;
so her husband, John Chandler, was used to decoy her
out of the State.

Although John had secured a divorce from her on
false and scandalous charges, against which Lizzie had
neglected to make a defense, so earnestly did she desire
a separation, yet, with fair promises for the future, he
succeeded in winning her consent to live with him
again.

Mounted on a horse behind her former husband,
they started, as she thought, for a friend's house. But
John had no such intention. He was the paid agent
of Bob Catlett to abduct her from the State.

As Lizzie, since the murder, had been living with
the father of Sheriff Maples, it was not long before
her absence was discovered. Sheriff Maples and dep-
uty sheriff Davis started at once in pursuit and caught
them in the Smoky mountains, near the North Caro-
lina line. They were returned to Sevierville. John
was jailed and Lizzie was sent to Knoxville for safe
keeping.

CHAPTER XXI.

MOLLY LILLARD W HALEY.

My name is Molly Lillard Whaley,
I'm left alone in this wide world ;

Papa and mamma are dead, you. know,
And lam their only baby girl.

134 TH® WHITE-CAPS.

The story is told in this little book,
Of how and why I was left alone,

How papa and mamma died one night,
In our own little cabin home.

How mamma pled for her own dear life,
And for the life of dear papa, as well,

How she pressed me to her aching heart,
As she kissed me a last farewell.

She held me in her arms for a moment,
And then laid me in Aunt Lizzie's bed,

And the last words she spoke on earth
Were, " Sister, cover up your head."

Then she turned and faced the murderers,
Who stood waiting upon the floor ;

Two shots rang out in quick succession,
And papa and mamma were then no more.

A deathly silence came o'er the weird scene,
Aunt Lizzie will never forget the time,

I was made fatherless, motherless and homeless,
By the commission of that awful crime.

They tell me of a fearless officer,

Who ran those criminals down
They made him sheriff of the county,

And his name is now renowned.

They tell me of two detectives,

Who lent a helping hand
To uncover the crimes of criminals,

And break up the White-cap band.

They tell me of the Attorney General

Who made such a gallant fight
To convict those hellish demons,

Because it was just and right.

THE WHITE-CAPS.

They tell me of an honorable Judge,
Who now holds court in Sevier,

Of that roving band of White-caps,
They say he has no fear.

They also tell me of another Judge,
Who sits upon a higher throne,

And if I but do his bidding,
He will one day call me home.

They say he is kind to little children,
And will guide these tiny feet,

And deal out justice to the murderers
In the death they are doomed to meet.

CHAPTER XXII.

TRIAL FOR THE MURDER OF LAURA WHALEY.

At the March term of the Circuit Court, 1897, Pleas
Wynn and Catlett Tipton were indicted for the murder
of William and L,aura Whaley, and Bob Qatlett and
Bob Wade were indicted as accessories before the fact.

At the following term of the court, November, 1897,
Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton were arraigned for
trial. Judge T. A. R. Nelson presided. Hon. E. F.
Mynatt, district attorney, Hon. J. R. Penland and Hon.
W. A. Parton, of Sevier county, and ex-Congressman
John C. Houk, of Knox county, appeared for the State,
while the defense was represented by Col. W. J.
McSween, Hon. George L,. Zirkle, Captain W. M. Mul-
lendore and others.

A panel of twelve hundred men was required, and
five days were consumed securing a jury. Four days
were spent hearing the testimony and two listening to
the arguments of counsel. Every point was hotly
contested and nothing was left undone to secure the
ends of justice.

The jury was " picturesqe," but the best that could
be obtained in a county where excitement ran high and
men, who had not " formed or expressed an opinion,1'
were scarce.

The facts proven were substantially the same as
already detailed in this chapter.

Lizzie Chandler, of course, was a most valuable wit-
ness for the State. She was the only living being,

LAURA WHAI.EY.

138 THE WHITE-CAPS.

except a six weeks old child, who saw the murder
committed.

The defense tried to impeach her character by intro-
ducing in evidence the charges made by her husband
in his bill for a divorce, but failed. Her testimony
was clearly and deliberately given, with every appear-
ance of truthfulness.

When asked to point out the man who did the
shooting, she looked around the court room. Amidst
a breathless silence, glancing from one face to
another, her gaze finally rested upon that of
Pleas Wynn, who sat near by and in the rear of his
senior counsel. She gazed intently at Wynn for a
moment, then looked up at the judge.

" Have you found him ? " asked Judge Nelson

" Yes," she answered.

" Where is he ? " inquired the district attorney.

" There," she said, pointing her finger at Wynn's
shrinking form ; " He is the man who had the gun on
the night of the murder."

The State failed to adduce any evidence showing
any complicity on Tipton's part. But Tipton, while
on the witness stand, implicated himself in the minds
of many when he admitted that he was with Wynn on
the night ot the murder, from dark until near mid-
night.

It is not our intention to review the arguments of
counsel, but we may be pardoned for mentioning one
incident connected with District Attorney Mynatt's
eloquent appeal to the jury, which shows the confiding
trust which the people of the mountains have in divine
mercy and justice.

LIZZIE CHANDLER,

140 THE WHITE-CAPS.

During this trial District Attorney Mynatt and his
brother, the assistant district attorney, occupied a room
at the Snapp House adjoining one in which Mr. and
Mrs. McMahan, the father and mother of I/aura
Whaley, Mollie lyillard, her infant child and her sister,
Lizzie Chandler, were quartered. The cooing of the
child and the subdued tones of the father and mother,
rehearsing the virtues of their dear departed dead,
inspired the efforts of the district attorney while pre-
paring his appeal that night to the jury for a rigid
enforcement of the law.

After a while this simple, unpretentious old man
knelt in family prayer.

As he progressed with his supplications to Almighty
God, he grew more earnest and vigorous; his voice
trembled with strong emotions as he told the Divine
Ruler the whole story of his daughter's life, her trials
and troubles, her persecutions and finally her cruel
death. He asked for the punishment of the guilty
parties and that the blessings of God might rest upon
the efforts of those who were striving toward this end.

Every word of the old man, mingled with the sobs
of the mother and the sister and the crowing and
gurgling of the happy infant, was distinctly heard. It
filled his heart with sympathy for these poor people
and for all those who had suffered at the hands of the
White-caps, and inspired the greatest effort of his life.

His address to the jury next day bore the impress of
inspiration.

The court room was crowded to its fullest capacity.
Many ladies occupied chairs on the judge's stand.
Within the bar sat the wives and children of the

THE WHITE-CAPS. 141

prisoners, Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton. By the
district attorney sat the father, mother, sister and child
of Laura Whaley.

There were times during the district attorney's
argument when he seemed unconscious of his surround-
ings. The old man's prayer had imprinted upon his
mind the picture of his daughter's life in all its details
from prattling childhood up to the time of her death,
and he reproduced this picture on the minds of the
jury with an intensity and fervor that beggars all
description, and when he had finished his peroration
there was moisture in the eyes of everyone present.
The jury were in tears, and sobs were heard in every
part of the court room.

The district attorney closed his argument at dusk on
the evening before Thanksgiving day. By candle-
light the judge read his charge to the jury. During
the reading, a good woman with a weary and sorrow-
ful countenance, who had pushed her chair toward the
judge, looked intently at him, hungering for some
word of hope for her criminal husband, for she was the
wife of Pleas Wynn.

The jury retired, and on the following day returned
a verdict finding Pleas Wynn guilty of the murder of
Laura Whaley, and acquitted Catlett Tipton.

Both men were yet to be tried for the murder of
William Whaley, and by order of the court Pleas
Wynn was removed to the county jail at Knoxville for
safe keeping until the next term, and Catlett Tipton
was held on a bond of ten thousand dollars for his
appearance,

CHAPTER XXIII.

TRIAL FOR THE MURDER OF WILLIAM WHALEY.

At the March term of the Circuit Court of Sevier
county, 1898, Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton were
arraigned for the murder of William Whaley on the
night of the 28th of December, 1896. Both men were
convicted of murder in the first degree.

This trial consumed seven days, and twelve hundred
men were examined before a jury was secured.

New evidence was introduced weaving more closely a
net of circumstances around Pleas Wynn and strongly
corroborating Catlett Tipton's admission, during the
former trial, that he " was with Wynn on the night of
the murder from dark until near midnight."

On the day before the case was submitted to the
jury, Owen Dickey was placed on the witness stand in
behalf of the prosecution, who swore that Pleas Wynn
showed him a hand full of cartridges, saying :

" When I go a-fishing I take them along and kill
d n big game."

This testimony so enraged William Wynn, a brother
of Pleas, who had been drinking freely all day, that,
after the adjournment of court, he met Dickey in the
court house and began cursing and abusing him,
calling him a liar and attaching thereto all the
necessary adjectives. Sheriff Maples ordered Wynn
to leave the court room.

Shortly thereafter, as the sheriff was going from the
new to the old court house, Wynn stepped out from a

THE WHITE-CAPS. 143

livery stable and began hurling curses and opprobrious
epithets at him. The sheriff, being alone and in the
midst of Wynn's friends, knowing the dangerous
character of his assailant and believing a movement on
the part of Wynn threatened a deadly attack, drew his
revolver. Five shots rang out in the air in rapid suc-
cession, and Wynn fell to the ground shot four times
in the abdomen.

A crowd of enraged White-caps at once surrounded
the sheriff, and as the five shots had exhausted his
supply of ammunition he backed through their line
and hastily retreated. His pursuers gained on him
rapidly and seized him just as he reached the public
square.

At this critical moment deputy sheriff Davis reached
the side of the sheriff and waived the crowd back with
his revolver, at the same time supplying the
sheriff with a hand full of cartridges. In quick suc-
cession followed detective McCall and George
Thurmer, one of the Burnett robbers who had turned
state's evidence and rendered valuable assistance to
the officers of the law in ascertaining the secret plans
of the White-caps, etc.

The sheriff was taken before Judge Nelson, who
ordered him into the custody of deputy sheriff Davis
with instructions to summon a strong guard for his
protection. Upon arriving at the jail, Hogan Bailey, a
brother-in-law of Wynn, attempted to shoot the sheriff,
but was disarmed by detective McCall and others and
placed in jail.

During the night, excitement was intense. The
White-caps dispatched couriers in every direction
throughout the county summoning their adherents.

144 THE WHITE-CAPS.

Sheriff Maples telephoned sheriff Groner and chief
of police Reeder, of Knox county, and sheriff Walker,
of Blount county, to come to his assistance at once
with a posse of well-armed men. These officers
responded promptly, leaving Knoxville at 9 p. m., and
met the Blount county posse at Trundles' Cross
Roads, fourteen miles from Sevierville, reaching their
destination at four o'clock the next morning.

Early in the morning crowds began to congregate
on the public square. L,aw abiding citizens through-
out the county, hearing of the condition of affairs,
abandoned their plows and came into town determined
to maintain order at all hazards. These extensive
preparations for war insured peace.

It was a sad coincidence which the people witnessed
that morning. In the court room the senior counsel
for the defence was making his appeal to the jury in
behalf of a murderer, the funeral of whose brother
was then passing the court house door. The church
bells tolled a sad accompaniment to the eloquence of
the learned counsel. Armed deputy sheriffs for the
protection of the court were conspicuous everywhere.

The case was submitted to the jury in the afternoon
of April 8, who retired and the following day returned
a verdict finding both Wynn and Tipton guilty of
murder in the first degree.

Appealing to the supreme court, they were removed
to the Knox county jail for safe keeping.

The supreme court, on the last day of the following
term, affirmed the judgment of the court below and
sentenced them to be hung on the 4th of January,
1899.

CHAPTER XXIV.

PLEAS WYNN.

Pleas Wynn is the son of Captain E. M. Wynn, and
was born at Pigeon Forge, seven miles south of Sevier-
ville. His parents moved to Sevierville when Pleas
was a small boy. He was principally raised in Sevier-
ville and was known about town as a shrewd and cun-
ning chap.

His parents sent him to school, but Pleas was not
very fond of books, and took more delight in outdoor
sports. He was a strong and active boy and could
endure more hardships than any boy in town.

146 THE WHITE-CAPS.

He could play any kind of a game ; lie was good at
marbles, an expert ball player, and later on became the
champion of the town at playing cards. He held this
title for many years and was only turned down by
George Thurmer, and as before stated he was hard to
turn down at playing baseball. He was a member of
the best club in the county, the old " Kureka," a team
that was seldom defeated, playing in a great many of the
small towns in East Tennessee, Newport, Dandridge
Mossey Creek and Morristown being among the num-
ber. He was short in stature and as swift as an
arrow, and once on the ring he seldom failed to reach
the home plate. He was familiarly known as " Shorty,"
and bears that name to this day.

He was not regarded as a real bad boy, in his early
days, yet he had many ups and downs with the boys
in town, and was not afraid to fight. It was very
seldom that he failed to come out first best with any
boy in the, ring.

He was very fond of hunting and fishing and was
an expert at both. There was scarcely a trail or
by-path anywhere among the rugged hills surrounding
Sevierville with which he was not perfectly familiar.

But by and by Pleas grew to manhood. And yet he
had no occupation, except that of jailer during the last
two years his father was sheriff of Sevier county,
from 1888 to 1890.

Only a short time previous to this Pleas had married
a most excellent young lady, Miss Mary Thomas,
daughter of W. H. Thomas, and it was hoped that
Pleas would lead a more useful life, and, for a time, it
seemed as though he would. But his associates were

THE WHITE-CAPS. 147

bad, and step by step he went from bad to worse, and
soon learned the habit of drink, and then that of
gambling, and, coupled with that of idleness, they soon
told their tale. His best friends concede that his down-
fall was due more to idleness than anything else.

CHAPTER XXV.

J. CATLETT TIPTON.

James Catlett Tipton was born in Sevierville, Sevier
county. He was named for Mr. James Catlett, an old
and respected citizen of the county and father of Bob
Catlett, one of the alleged accomplices of Tipton in the
Whaley murder. He is the only son of B. J. and
Abigail Tipton. His mother still survives, but his
father died many years ago when his son was but a

THE WHITE-CAPS. 149

small boy. By the death of her husband, Mrs. Tipton
was left to battle with the world with three small
children to support, towit : James Catlett and two
daughters, one of the latter now being the wife of
B. B. Bailey, and the other the wife of Mr. Mack
Blair, both of Sevier county and highly respected
citizens.

J. C., or Catlett Tipton, as he was familiarly known,
was a bright and handsome boy of good address, and
was generally well liked by his associates in and
around Sevierville where he spent his boyhood days.

His education was limited to that of the common
schools of the county, but in these he acquired a fair
business education sufficient to enable him to transact
ordinary business. He is said to have been apt in his
studies and would have made a good scholar had he
continued in school and applied himself diligently.
But, being fond of outdoor sports of all kinds, this in a
measure distracted his mind from his school work. In
the running and jumping matches, baseball and other
games usually engaged in by the school boys, young
Tfpton was a favorite and always among the first to be
chosen. He became an expert baseball player and
won distinction in this art among the local teams. He
was a member of the " Eureka " team for a number of
years, composed of Sevier county boys, of which
sheriff Tom Davis was captain. Pleci Wynn was also
a member of this team and a very fine player, being
the fleetest on foot of any one in the team.

Tipton was not only an expert in such games and
pastimes as above referred to, but he was very fond of
hunting and fishing, and was equally as successful in
this field of sport.

150 THE WHITE-CAPS.

He was a crack shot with a gun or pistol, and could
bring in as much game as any one who went after it.
Having been raised on the very banks, as it were, of
the two Pigeon rivers, when it was not unlawful to fish
with the gig, or seine, or by shooting them, and
delighting in the sport, he became a skillful fisherman
and spent much time with the finy tribe.

So strong was his inclination for this kind of sport,
he still followed it, according to his own confessions,
in violation of the law after it had been made a highly
penal offence to take fish from the sti earns in any man-
ner except by hook and line. Even on the night of
the Whaley murder, it is claimed that he and Wynn
were fishing, both above and below Sevierville, with
dynamite, and succeeded in capturing a fine lot of fish.
This fishing tour, which the parties related in the
testimony upon the witness stand, enters largely into
the history of this famous trial.

Tipton was also a good mechanic, being both a
carpenter and a blacksmith. For the past fifteen years
he spent the greater portion of his time at the carpen-
ter's trade. While not a fine workman, yet he was an
average country carpenter and found ready employ-
ment on many of the best jobs in the county.

His brother-in-law, B. B. Bailey, with whom he lived
for some time, is one of the best blacksmiths and
wagon makers in the country, and Tipton spent
enough time with him in his shop to become a fair
mechanic in this line. And at the time of the
Whaley murder, and for some months previous, he
was working with Bailey in Sevierville, while his
family lived two or three miles in the country.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 151

In the spring and summer of 1884, Tipton was
engaged to assist in the construction of a hotel at
"Seaton's Summer City," Seaton's Springs, about
eight miles above Sevierville. While thus engaged, he
formed the acquaintance of the girl who afterwards
became his wife. She was the daughter of Mr. James
Seaton, the owner of Seaton's Springs and proprietor
of the hotel Tipton was helping to erect. Their court-
ship was short, but romantic, and on the 2ist of June,
1884, James Catlett Tipton and Mary R. Seaton were
united in the holy bonds of matrimony by J. H.
Atchley, Esq., a Justice of the Peace of Sevier county.
This marriage was stoutly opposed by the parents of
Miss Seaton, but love which had sprung up between
these two young people was not to be thwarted by
parents or any one else, and over the protests of father
and mother the young lady left home and was married
as above stated — a marriage which is commonly
termed a "runaway match." Miss Seaton was what
might be called a pretty country girl of splendid
character and was very populai among her associates.

A reconciliation was soon affected between the
young wife and her parents and she and her husband
returned to the parental home, where they were
received and treated in the most hospitable manner.

Mrs. Tipton was a devoted Christian, having been
raised by the most devout Christian parents, and made
her husband a loving, helpful wife. As a result of
their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Tipton have five bright-
eyed and healthful boys, who live with their mother
near Sevierville.

While Catlett Tipton was a boy and a young man of
good appearance and polite address, as well as above

152 THE WHITE-CAPS.

the average in intelligence, yet he was always inclined
to be a little wild and run with wild boys. He liked
the new and the adventurous, and this, combined with
wicked associates, proved his ruin. When the nefarious
practice of white-capping broke out in Sevier county,
Tipton early espoused the cause of the new order, and
by reason of his intelligence and his superior executive
ability, he at once became a leader and directed much
of the effective work of the organization.

After Sevierville and immediate vicinity became the
field and center of active operations of the White-caps,
Tipton became the captain of the band, and thus, as it
is understood, was the chief officer. Now that the
organization has gone to pieces, and its leaders scat-
tered— many of them having left the country, while
others are in the clutches of the law, people generally
feel that they can speak out freely and express their
sentiments with impunity ; hence it is not so difficult
to obtain information regarding White-caps as it form-
erly was. For this reason nearly every man who
belonged to the White-cap organization in Sevier
county is now known. Many people talk it out freely.
Even some of the persons who joined the order but
who joined no raids and are guilty of no outrages,
now acknowledge it. Hence our information that
Catlett Tipton was a member and a leader of the White-
caps in Sevier count}' is absolutely reliable.

He perhaps swore more men into the order than any
other one man. While at this date he has made no
published confession of his connection with white-
capping, yet he has told to a number of reliable per-
sons much of his white-cap history. He has told of a
number of raids that he was on, and who was whipped

THE WHITE CAPS. 153

and who did the whipping. He has told of quite a
number of prominent citizens who belonged to the
order and who were sworn in by himself as the author-
ized official of the band.

Many of these citizens were for a long time accused
of belonging to the White-caps, but as often denied by
their friends, and, until of late, the truth was never
known. But since Tipton has made voluntary state-
ments about these matters and given details of times
and places and circumstances, all of which comport
with reason and former suspicions, there can be but
little doubt that he has told the truth about these
matters.

The names of these parties could be given, but on
account of their prominence and the request of Tipton
that their names should not be divulged, it is deemed
proper not to bring them before the public.

As before stated, Tipton named specifically several
raids that he had made, as a White-cap, the names of
those with him, as well as the names of the individuals
who were whipped. Some of these were in the town
of Sevierville and some in the immediate vicinity
around it, while others were in more remote parts of
the county.

Tipton and Pleas Wynn have been indicted and con-
victed of the murder of the Whaleys and sentenced to
hang, on the 4th day of January, 1899, at Sevierville.
Like many other caso of this kind, it is not absolutely
known that they are the parties who committed this
crime, but it is safe to say that a large majority of the
people, who know the facts and heard the testimony,
believe that they are guilty.

154 THE WHITE-CAPS.

There is no doubt that Tipton's association with the
White-cap organization and the bad men who belonged
to it, brought him to the sad and almost hopeless con-
dition in which he now finds himself.

The worst men of the country joined his band, with
whom he held midnight caucuses and planned raids
against supposed violators of their moral creed. Among
these were Pleas Wynn and Bob Catlett. It is gener-
ally known that Bob Catlett joined the White-caps
about two years prior to the Whaley murder ; and while
Tipton had known something of Catlett all his life,
yet their association was never very intimate, until the
latter joined Tipton's band of outlaws. Because of
Bob Catlett's standing financially —being a man of
large estate in that county — the captain of the White-
caps undoubtedly felt that he was a great acquisition
to the organization.

If Tipton and Wynn are hung, it will be on the
theory that they were hired by Bob Catlett to go to
the Whaley house and kill both William Whaley and
his wife on the night of the 28th of December, 1896.

Bob Catlett himself, after several intimate conversa-
tions with Pleas Wynn on the morning of that day,
left with four horses for Asheville, N. C., or other
points south.

Wynn and Tipton admit that they left home that
night about dark, and were out till about two o'clock
by themselves, at which hour they returned home and
retired. But they insist that they were fishing up and
down the river from Sevierville, and therefore did not
go to Whaley's nor commit the murder. Whether
guilty or not, a chain of circumstances has been so

THE WHITE-CAPS. 155

closely woven about them that two juries and the cir-
cuit judge who tried them, and the Supreme Court,
which affirmed the verdicts of two juries, have all been
satisfied of their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and
sentenced them to die, and this is the end of the law.

It was his association and talk with Bob Catlett
immediately before the Whaleys were killed, coupled
with the fact that bad feeling existed between Catlett
and the Whaleys, and the further fact that the latter
had, only a few weeks before they were killed, gone
before the grand jury at Sevierville and given informa-
tion on which an indictment was found against Bob
Catlett and Bob Wade for alleged white capping, or
charges of that nature, that caused the arrest and pros-
ecution of Wynn and Tipton.

Everybody greatly sympathizes with Tipton's wife
and little children, who, being left in straitened circum-
stances, will have a struggle not only against poverty
through life, but against the humiliation and disgrace
that always follow the conviction for such a crime and
an execution upon the gallows.

But be it said that no blame is laid at the door of
the good wife. She, perhaps, has given him better
counsel and certainly has not encouraged him in a
course of wrong doing. She still clings to him with
the love that inspired her to forsake parents and home,
with all its endearments, and cast her all upon his
manly arm in his young manhood. She is none the
less respected by good people because she does thus
show her devotion to her husband in his last extremity.
This shows the true woman and loving wife, whether
he is innocent or guilty of the great crime for which
he has been sentenced to die.

156 THE WHITE-CAPS.

His old and respected mother, who still survives, and
who has given her son better advice, as well as his two
sisters, come in for a full share of sympathy from all
good people.

Let us hope that the little children whom Catlett
Tipton leaves behind him to bear his name, will not
follow in the foot-prints of their father, which, sooner
or later, will inevitably lead to irretrievable ruin.

CHAPTER XXVI.

W. R. CATI.ETT.

William Robert Catlett, the subject of this sketch,
was born on a farm near Sevierville, and is now about
45 years of age.

He is commonly known as Bob Catlett, and is the
oldest son of James P. Catlett, who died at his home
near Sevierville about six years ago. His mother died
many years ago, when Bob was a small boy, leaving
him and one brother, James M. Catlett, to survive her.
His mother was a McMahan, coming as she did from
one of the oldest and most respectable families in
Sevier county. The McMahans were pioneers in that
section, and now a very numerous branch of the pop-
ulation of that county. After the death of his first
wife James P. Catlett married Nancy E. Mullendore,
a sister of Captain W. W. Mullendore, a distinguished
member of the bar at Sevierville. She still survives,
and lives on the old Catlett homestead, near Sevierville,
with her two daughters, her only living children.
Both the mother and step-mother of Bob Catlett were
noted for intelligence, piety and Christian character.
This is as much as to say that Bob's early home train-
ing was not neglected. His education is limited. He
only attended the common schools of the county. His
father was in good circumstances financially, and
could have given his son a complete education, but the
latter was not very much inclined to books, and the
father did not press the matter beyond an ordinary
business course.

158 THE WHITE-CAPS.

Bob was fond of stock from his early childhood.
He thought much more of a good horse than a book.
The father, seeing the bent of his boy's mind, at an
early age gave him superior advantages in that direc-
tion. He gave Bob money and allowed him to buy
and sell and swap as he chose, and in this way he soon
became a first-class stock trader as well as a farmer.

Few men are better judges of a good horse than
Bob Catlett, and perhaps none of his age have had as
many law suits over their buying and selling and
swapping as he. It seemed that when he sold or
swapped off a horse, that something always got the
matter with it the next day or in a short time. Then
the fellow came back on him, and a law suit followed.
He always considered himself unlucky in this partic-
ular. He has been a successful farmer as well as
trader, and is the owner of one of the best farms in
Sevier county, containing something like six hundred
acres. His farm is well stocked and everything around
his home has the appearance of prosperity.

But from his boyhood Bob was inclined to be wild
and sometimes reckless. He took delight in perpe-
trating a joke or playing a trick on his associates, and
this often went beyond the limit of innocent fun. In
this way he got the name among many people of being
mean.

Unfortunately he acquired the habit of strong drink
in his boyhood. At times he drank to excess, and
when intoxicated he was disagreeable, overbearing and
even reckless. In recent years he has not drank so
much as formerly, and especially for the last two or
three years.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 159

On the 22d day of March, 1876, he was married to
Miss Mary A. Wade, the daughter of Hon. J. J. Wade,
a substantial farmer and one of the best men of Sevier
county. Miss Wade was in every way worthy of the
man she married, and has made him a devoted wife.
They have a large family of children, consisting of
two boys and nine girls.

His oldest daughter is intelligent and refined and
has a good education. She is one of the foremost
teachers in the county, having taught one year in
Murphy College.

This family is a very interesting one, and there is
only one thing, apparently, that prevents them from
being a happy family — and that is the cloud that
hangs over them on account of the husband and father
being implicated in the murder of the Whaleys. Of
course they are in no sense responsible, even if it
should turn out that he is guilty, but they are innocent
sufferers, all the same.

Catlett has, no doubt, made many mistakes in his
life: but the biggest one was when he joined the
notorious White-cap gang, an institution that has
brought sorrow and ruin to many a happy home in
Sevier county.

He did not become an early disciple of the new
order, but he was actively connected with it for only
about two years prior to the Whaley murder. During
this time Sevierville and vicinity were the places of
active operations, and especially were all their meetings
held there by those high in authority in the organiza-
tion. These meetings were sometimes held in rooms
and houses in Sevierville, and sometimes at the houses

l6O THE WHITE-CAPS.

of White-caps who lived near. Many of them were
held at Tipton's own house, about three miles from
the town.

After his connection with the order Bob Catlett was
much seen about Sevierville, both day and night time,
although he lived about seven miles from the town.
It is not guess work that he was a White-cap, but this
is known beyond the peradventure of a doubt.

Catlett Tipton himself, the chief of the White-caps,
has said so, time and again, and has even implicated
him in the Whaley murder by offering him (Tipton) a
hundred dollars to put Whaley and his wife out of the
way. While this comes from the chief of the White-
caps, and from a man condemned to die for this awful
crime, yet it is reasonable and comports with all the
other facts and circumstances going to show Bob Cat-
lett's guilt. It was on this theory that the State rested
its prosecution against Wynn and Tipton, and two
courts and two juries have said that they believed it
was correct beyond a reasonable doubt.

During the summer and fall prior to the killing of
the Whaleys, the latter then living on Catlett's land,
had some trouble with him over some rent corn and
over some talk that Catlett had heard Whaley's wife
had about him (Catlett) being a White-cap, &c.
The Whaley family left the Catlett farm and moved to
Captain Wynn's farm, some two miles below Sevier-
ville. About this time Whaley and wife were taken
before the grand jury and on their testimony an indict-
ment was found against Bob Catlett and Bob Wade,
charging them with rocking and shooting into Walter
Maples' house. This incensed Catlett all the more,

THE WHITB-CAP3. l6l

and furnished the alleged motive for inciting and pro-
curing the killing of both Whaley and wife.

Catlett has never had his trial, but recently secured
a change of venue from Sevier to Hamblen county,
where he will be tried for his alleged complicity in this
crime. He is now in jail at Morristown, having been,
at the last term of the Circuit Court at Sevierville,
denied bail by Judge Nelson by reason of the fact that
the cases against Wynn and Tipton had been recently
affirmed by the Supreme Court, and other evidence
accumulating against him that pointed unerringly to
his guilt

There is no concealing the fact that public sentiment
in Sevier county is overwhelmingly against Catlett,
and whether or not he is ever convicted of this charge,
the almost unanimous sentiment of the people of that
county will still be that he and he alone inspired the
bloody deed.

This is the first crime of any magnitude that Catlett
has ever been indicted for, so far as we know, but he
has been much censured by the public because of his
contributory, if not criminal, negligence leading up to
the death of two or three worthy jouog men in Sevier
county.

About ten years ago a young man named Maples,
who lived on Catlett's farm, became intoxicated and
provoked a quarrel with James Cletnison, another ten-
ant of Catlett's. This was on Sunday, and Catlett
being with them, it is said that he rather encouraged a
fight than interceded for peace. Night came on
without any personal altercation between the parties,
but some time after dark Maples and Catlett went to

162 THE WHITE-CAPS.

the house of Clemison and Maples demanded entrance
while Catlett stood by encouraging him. On being
refused entrance, Maples broke the door down and
started to enter the house, whereupon Clemison picked
up an axe with which he had provided himself and
struck Maples a terrific blow, literally splitting his
head, turning his brains out on the floor and killing
him instantly.

This occurred on Catlett's farm, near his dwelling
house and in his very presence where he could and
should have prevented it. Clemison was not prose-
cuted, being held justifiable in defending his home
against an intruder under such circumstances.

Maples was a quiet young man, when sober, and
would never have committed the rash act that brought
about his untimely end had it not been for the fact
that he was drinking and urged by one who, if not
altogether responsible for the murder, was nevertheless
much to be censured for standing by and seeing it
done when he could easily have prevented it.

At another time, Catlett had been to a protracted
meeting back in the knob country a few miles from
his home, and was returning in company with a young
man named Ballard. When only a short distance
from the church, Catlett proposed a horse race with
Ballard, which challenge was accepted and the race
entered into, but they had not proceeded far when
Ballard' s horse fell with and broke his (Ballard's)
neck, killing him instantly.

Ballard was a mere boy while Catlett was a man
of mature years, and should have prevented rather
than contributed to the death of the unfortunate
young man.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 163

These are two deaths that the people have always
blamed Catlett with, although he did not directly
commit them.

While drunk on one occasion, several years ago,
Catlett provoked a quarrel with John Burns, a harm-
less and inoffensive citizen, then drew his pistol and
shot Burns in the shoulder, inflicting a very serious
but not. fatal wound.

In this case Catlett's father and other friends inter-
posed, and for a money consideration (Burns being a
very poor man), adjusted the matter and Catlett was
not prosecuted.

These are a few of the ear marks in Catlett's history
which clearly indicate his character.

Few men in Sevier county have had superior oppor-
tunities than Bob Catlett to make money and become
prosperous and useful citizens. As before stated, his
father gave him good opportunities, and his uncle,
William Catlett, who died a few years ago/ leaving an
estate worth about $75,000, gave Bob considerable
sums of money during his life, and in his will left him
a good portion of the estate.

Bob's full name is William Robert, having been
named for his uncle, who always though a great deal
of his nephew and gave him much good counsel, but
which, to a large extent, was unheeded.

For a man who has been well raised, always in good
circumstances and surrounded by good people, to be
languishing in jail for a crime the parallel of which
has never been known in Sevier county, is so unusual
that it almost challenges belief. Yet, it is too true,
and what the ultimate outcome will be is awaited with
more than ordinary interest,

164 THE WHITE-CAPS.

"Will Catlett's money save him?" is a question
often asked, prompted no doubt by the prevalent
opinion that money plays an important part in the
trials of men charged with crime.

However true this may be, it is to be hoped that
justice will in the end prevail, and that money, potent
as it is, will not be permitted to stand in the way of the
conviction and punishment of the parties who so
brutally murdered poor William and I^aura Whaley on
that fatal night in December, 1896. If Bob Catlett
either committed or inspired others to commit this
crime, he should be hung, though he were worth a
million. But if he is innocent, then not a hair of his
head should be touched. He should in this event be
returned to the bosom of his family to comfort them
and live the quiet, peaceful citizen that the law
requires of every man.

CHAPTER XXVII.

M. F. MAPLES.

Millard Filmore Maples was born in Sevier county
about six miles east of Sevierville in the month of
August, 1856. He is forty-two years old and in the
prime of life and vigor of manhood- He is a son of G.
R. Maples, Sr., a farmer and an old ex-federal soldier.

He was born and raised on the farm and trained by
his father to that occupation, but farming did not suit
his taste very much, and after he had grown up and
married, he soon drifted from the farm into other
business channels.

Mr. Maples has only a common school education,
but being bright and intelligent he thoroughly mas-
tered the common school course and acquired what
might be called a good business education.

In the summer of 1894 he made his first race for
sheriff of Sevier county. Maples being naturally of a
social disposition and a good mixer, his work for the
previous fifteen years had afforded him an excellent
opportunity to become well acquainted with the people
In all parts of the county.

His opponents in this race were G. L. Delozier, who
was then sheriff, and Captain E. M. Wynn, who was
an ex-sheriff, having served two terms in that capacity.
Both of these men were of splendid character and very
popular with the people, besides being thoroughly
acquainted throughout the county. Three stronger
men are seldom pitted against each other,

1 66 THE WHITE-CAPS.

This race occurred at a time when the White-caps
were holding high carnival in Sevier county and made
themselves felt in elections. Maples took a bold stand
against this organization and its practices and asked of
them no assistance. This, of course, drove the White-
caps from him, but brought to his support most of the
anti- White-cap leaders. It was also understood that
Maples would appoint one democrat as a deputy, and
this brought to him the full democratic vote.

While Captain Wynn was not believed to be a
White-cap, but on the contrary a quiet and law abiding
citizen, yet for some reason the White-cap element
as a rule was supposed to be for him, as well as many
others who were known not to belong to that order.

Delozier's supporters were men who stood between
the two great extremes and consisted of a large num-
ber of conservative men of all classes in the county.

Maples was elected by a plurality of 147 votes, and
inducted into this office the following September. His
first term as sheriff was not marked by any special
incidents, except so far as the war he and his deputies
waged against the White-caps.

It was he and his deputies who arrested thirteen at
one time, charged with white-capping, and brought
them into Sevierville for trial. This was immediately
after the battle near Henderson's Springs between the
White-caps and Blue Bills, in which three men were
killed and one or two others wounded.

Maples has always waged an unrelenting war on
the White-caps and was hated by them second to none
except Tom Davis, his faithful deputy and anti- White-
cap leader.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 167

He was a candidate again and re-elected in 1896,
thereby receiving the endorsement of the people of
the county for an honest and faithful administration of
his first term.

His opponents in his second race were C. C. Yett
and R. H. Shields, the former being a son-in-law of
Captain Wynn and a deputy under him when he was
sheriff, and the latter being a warm supporter of G. I/.
Delozier. It is therefore seen that the field was
divided much in the same manner as in the former
race, and the same issues in a measure entered into it.
This time Maples was elected by a plurality of 162
votes.

Soon after his second election the Whaley murder
occurred. This afforded sheriff Maples and his depu-
ties additional reasons for pursuing the White-caps
with more zeal than ever, which they did. This mur-
der aroused so much public sentiment against white-
capping that sheriff Maples thought that now was the
time to strike the death blow. And to that end he and
his deputies went to work as never before to drive this
hated organization from the county. So he and his
deputies became vigilants and detectives to hunt down
White-cap criminals wherever they might lurk, and
especially were they determined to hunt down the
Whaley murderers and bring them to justice. What
success they have had remains for the public to judge.

By the time sheriff Maples' term of office expired,
white-capping in Sevier county was almost a thing of
the past, and many ot those found guilty of this
offense had been tried and convicted.

Sheriff Maples took a leading part in the prosecution
of Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton, and on this account

1 68 THE WHITE-CAPS.

incurred the enmity not only of the defendants but of
some of their friends and relatives also.

This led to an unfortunate difficulty between sheriff
Maples and William Wynn, a brother of Pleas, during
the March term of circuit court, 1898, in Sevierville,
in which Maples shot Wynn, who died in a few hours.

Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton were being tried for
the Whaley murder at this time and William Wynn
not liking the interest Maples was taking in the trial
both as a witness and an officer, and being somewhat
intoxicated, accosted Maples on the street and began
cursing and abusing him. Whereupon Maples drew
his pistol and shot him, but not until Wynn had
threatened to kill him and made an attempt to draw a
weapon, as Maples claims.

Maples now stands indicted for the killing of Wynn,
and insists that he was justifiable in doing it under the
circumstances.

The case will probably be tried at the next term of
the circuit court, at Sevierville, when the public will
get the merits of the case as presented by the testi-
mony.

It is generally admitted that Wynn sought the
meeting between him and Maples and brought on the
difficulty, and being a bold, dangerous man, will all
militate in Maples' favor.

When Tom Davis became a candidate for sheriff
against Mr. Shields, sheriff Maples, remembering the
great services rendered him by Davis while a deputy
under him, espoused his cause very enthusiastically
and contributed much by his vast influence to the elec-
tion of Davis.

SHERIFF M. F. MAPLES.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 169

Maples has always been a strong republican, but in
this instance he took the bit in his mouth over the
protests of many of his friends and appointed Tom
Davis a deputy because of his peculiar fitness for
the position.

He had no cause to regret this appointment, and
when Davis became a candidate for sheriff he could not
withhold his support from him, even though a demo-
crat. He felt that it was not inconsistent after having
appointed Davis a deputy to give him his support, and
right or wrong this is the record he has made.

Maples was married when quite young to Miss Julia
Lillard, of Cocke county, a quiet, unassuming Chris-
tian woman, who made him a cheerful and zealous
helpmeet through all his struggles in life.

Mr. and Mrs. Maples have only one child, a daughter,
who is now Mrs. W. H. Gass, of Sevierville.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE ROBBERY OF JOHN BURNETT.

John Burnett is an old pensioner and owns a little
hill-side farm six miles west of Sevierville among the
foot hills of the Chilhowee mountains. He was a hard
working old man and evidently had struggled hard
through life to support his wife and large family of
children.

Besides the income from his little farm, he received
a pension of twenty-four dollars per month. These
two sources of revenue were his only means of sup-
port. From the first he received supplies for the
table, while the other was usually spent in buying the
necessary clothing for the family. Therefore, Burnett
and his family hailed with delight the coming of
"pension day."

One cold November morning in 1896 Mr. Burnett
mounted his horse and rode away in the direction of
Sevierville. He had not told all the members of the
family where he was going. Mrs. Burnett, however,
well knew his mission. The children asked :

" Where is papa going this cold morning? "

A bright smile lit up their faces when they learned
he had started for Sevierville to cash his pension check,
for winter was coming on, the mornings were cold and
frosty, and they had not yet received their winter
shoes.

Mr. Burnett drew his money from the Sevierville
bank, and as he stuffed a big roll of greenbacks in his
pocket, remarked :

THE WHITK-CAPS. 1 71

" Mattie and the children will be happy tonight.
They've been teasing the life out of me for their
winter clothing."

The children anxiously awaited the return of their
father that evening. But the sun had set and the
blue mists of twilight were fast gathering over the old
homestead when Mr. Burnett rode up to the gate.
They met him at the gate and their hearts were over-
joyed when they were assured that he had his money
— seventy-two dollars.

It was a happy family that sat around the fire-place
that night and talked of what each one would receive.
Some new shoes, some new hats and cloaks, while the
grown boys were to have new suits of '' store clothes."

But " a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,"
and speeding hours sometimes bring with them events
which play havoc with our brightest hopes.

At that very moment Pleas Wynn, George Thurmer,
and Jap. and Joe Jenkins were playing cards for drinks
in an upstairs room at Yett & Trotter's store and plan-
ning a raid for ill gotten gains.

Pleas Wynn's sharp eye had caught a glimpse of
that large roll of greenback as it passed from the hands
of the cashier into those of the owner. Pleas sat
whittling on a goods box in front of the bank, and
while apparently taking no notice of his surroundings,
was watching the transaction on the inside.

When the boys were fairly well " tanked up " that
night on mean liquor Pleas told of what he had seen
at the bank and suggested that they " take it in."

This was a new field of business to Thurmer, and at
first he protested against it, saying :

172 THE WHITE-CAPS.

" I have just returned from serving a term in the
penitentiary, and we will all get caught up with, and
then I will have another job an my hands."

" You are the very man we need, George," argued
Wynn. "You must go; we can't do without you."

" Pshaw, George. They ain't one bit o' danger.
They can't do nothin' with a White-cap," chimed in
Joe Jenkins.

" Well, they might," said Jap. " Let's all take
another drink and then we will talk more about it."

The drinks went around and then another big
" horn '' was taken, and a bright smile played upon
the faces of the four robbers as Pleas Wynn gave out
the plans in detail and told them how easy it would be
to frighten old man Burnett out of his senses, take his
money and disappear in the darkness.

Jap. and Joe Jenkins were conducting a livery stable
in the lower end of town, also a " blind tiger," so the
horses and liquor were at hand, and they started at
once for the Burnett home. They rode at a lively
gait and were not long in reaching their destination.

Crash went the door, and three men closely masked
stepped inside. Mr. Burnett, aroused from his mid-
night slumbers, stood gazing at the robed figures in
utter astonishment,

" Hold up your hands," came the first command.

It was no sooner given than obeyed, and Burnett
stood on his tiptoes reaching for the ceiling overhead.

They turned to his daughter's bed and ordered her
to get up and light a lamp. As she did not obey at
once she was dragged out of bed in her night clothing
and forced to make a light.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 173

Two of the robbers took Burnett into an adjoining
room while the third stood by Mrs. Burnett's bed with
a drawn club.

" Where is your money? '' Burnett was asked.

"I — I — hav — haven't got any," stammered the old
man, as he turned his pockets inside out.

" D n you, I know you have," said the low,

heavy-set man. " Get it for us, and be d d quick

about it."

The command was emphasized by two large revol-
vers which were thrust in his face so close that one
touched his cheek. This had the desired effect and
Burnett said :

" Take me in the other room and my wife will get
it for you."

Mrs. Burnett did not know where it was, but the
eldest daughter did. Burnett rushed frantically around
the room opening a drawer here and there making an
honest effort to find the money, but failed to do so.

The robbers thought he was playing a game on them,
and one struck him on the head with the butt of his
pistol, knocking him down.

"Now, d n you, take that," he said. "We've

come to get your money or your life, one or the other,
and we don't give a d n which."

Through all this excitement the heroic daughter,
who knew where the money was concealed, had
remained silent. But when she saw her father fall to
the floor, she weakened, and pulling out a drawer gave
the money to Pleas Wynn. .

174 THE WHITE-CAPS.

This ended the fearful scene. The robbers disap-
peared as abruptly as they had made their appearance,
leaving the erstwhile happy' home in sore distress.

Burnett sank down in an old-fashioned rocker by his
wife exclaiming :

" Oh, my God ! Mattie, we are ruined, now."

The robbers .went dashing down the road at a break-
neck speed, and when about a mile and a half from the
scene of the robbery, they turned into a little scope of
woods, dismounted and divided the money. Pleas
Wynn drew from his pocket a roll of greenbacks, and
not satisfied with having robbed an old pensioner, he
now plays a game on his companions in crime.

"Thirty-nine dollars was all I got," said Pleas.

" The h — 11 you say," said Jap. Jenkins. " Then we
didn't get it all. They put up a job on us at last."

The thirty-nine dollars was divided into four equal
parts, Wynn keeping his share and also the balance of
the seventy -two dollars which the young girl had
given him.

They remounted their horses and the return trip
was made in double quick time. On reaching the out-
skirts of town they checked their flying steeds and
quietly rode into town, two and two.

At the March term of court, 1897, Pleas Wynn,
George Thurmer, John Christopher, Jap., Joe and Sam
Jenkins were indicted for this crime. John Christo-
pher, Sam and Joe Jenkins were tried at the July term
of court, 1897. Joe Jenkins was convicted and sen-
tenced to the penitentiary for five years and is now
serving the term. John Christopher and Sam Jenkins
were acquitted, and indeed they should have been, as

THE WHITE-CAPS. 175

neither was guilty, according to the statements of
some who participated in the commission of the crime.

Pleas Wynn, Jap Jenkins and George Thurmer have
never been tried for this crime, and, perhaps never
will be, as Wynn is sentenced to die upon the gallows
for the murder of William and Laura Whaley, and Jap.
Jenkins and George Thurmer have turned the light on
and rendered the officers valuable assistance in ferret-
ing out other crimes.

Joe Jenkins, the man who said "They can't do
nothin' with a White-cap," is the only one to suffer
the penalty of the law.

On the return trip from Kentucky with George
Thurmer, he said to deputy sheriff Tom Davis :

" Take these handcuffs off."

" No indeed," replied the officer. " If you had taken
my advice, George, and told what you knew about this
matter you would have been a free man to-day."

"If I am ever offered that opportunity again, by
G d, I'll do it," said George.

" Open up yourself then," replied the officer, " the
opportunity is at hand.

Thereupon George made a clean breast of the whole
matter. He has also given out valuable information
besides coming to sheriff Maples' rescue at a critical
moment.

There are few men who have become so destitute of
all sense of honor that they have no good qualities left.
George was not an exception to the rule.

John Burnett well knew the dangerous character of
the robbers, who had threatened his life if he revealed
the loss of his money, and immediately moved to
Knoxville, where he now resides.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE ROBBERY OF ANDREW HENDERSON.

This robbery occurred in the latter part of Novem-
ber, 1896, following closely the robbery of old man
John Burnett.

"Old Uncle Andy," as he was familiarly known,
lived in the Henderson Spring neighborhood and was
one of the oldest and best citizens in Sevier county.
Besides owning one of the best river farms in the
county, it was a well known fact that he always kept
on hand a large sum of ready cash.

He was an out-spoken old man, and did not hesitate
to speak his sentiments. He never occupied neutral
ground on any grave question, but took one side or
the other, and was always able to defend his position.
I/ike all the other Hendersons of Sevier county, he
took a bold stand against the White-caps. Hence the
motive for the commission of this grave crime may
have been two-fold.

These midnight raiders, no doubt, reasoned with
themselves in this way : that they would not only
enhance the sum of their ill-gotten gains, but at the
same time would get even with a relentless enemy for
his bold denunciation of their cowardly crimes.

It has always been believed by Sevier county people
that at least some of the men committing this crime
were his near neighbors who were perfectly familiar
with all the surroundings.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 177

Uncle Andy was suddenly aroused that night in
November from his midnight slumbers by a heavy
crash at his window. He opened his eyes and found
the muzzle of a shot gun staring him in the face, and
at the same time came the command :

" Hold up your hands."

The robbers, evidently, were acquainted with the
situation and well knew that Uncle Andy's shot gun
was always near his bedside, and although old and
feeble, he knew how to handle it, and they did not
care to take equal chances with him. So one of them
thrust a shot gun through the window pane and kept
him covered while the others battered down the door.

Once on the inside it was an easy matter to accom-
plish their purpose. They dragged the old man from
his bed and shoved him around the room in a rough
manner, and with a man at each arm they led him to
his safe and demanded him to open it at once. He
obeyed the command but it was some little time before
he could get it open. He had forgotten the combina-
tion and had begun to grow uneasy for fear he could
not open it at all. He turned the knob with great
care, for he knew full well that his life depended on
his success in opening the safe. At last the safe was
opened and the shining gold, amounting to a little
over two thousand dollars, was turned over to the
robbers.

Yet they were not satisfied ; they knew Uncle Andy
always kept on hand for his morning dram some of
the finest liquor that could be had, and making their
way to his closet they found a two-gallon demijohn
upon which the seal had not yet been broken. Satis-

178 THE WHITE-CAPS.

fied at last, if indeed it is possible to satisfy the raven-
ous greed of a midnight robber, they bade him good-
night and departed.

Soon the loud clatter of horses' hoofs was heard going
down the road in the direction of Sevierville, and three or
four reckless riders reeling in their saddles and yelling
at the top of their voices :

" White-caps ! White-caps ! Hurrah for the White-
caps ! "

On they went as fast as their fiery steeds could carry
them, passing the farm houses one by one in quick
succession, still yelling :

' ' White-caps ! White-caps ! Clear the way — the
White-caps are coming ! "

On approaching the town of Sevierville they tight-
ened their reins and came suddenly to a halt, and
nothing more was heard of them.

Before leaving old man Henderson, they waived a
pistol in his face, saying :

" Old man, if you ever cheep this, your life instead
of your gold will pay the penalty."

The old man and his aged companion lay in bed talk-
ing in subdued tones until ten o'clock next day. They
imagined they could hear the robbers walking around
the house and thought they had returned to carry out
the threat they had made the night before. It was,
therefore, late in the day before the neighbors knew
that a robbery had been committed.

He finally sent for his nephew, William A. Hender-
son. When he came, the old man burst in tears,
saying :

" Bill, I am ruined, I am ruined ! "

THE WHITE-CAPS. 179

"What on earth is the matter, Uncle Andy?"
queried his nephew.

" They have robbed me of all my gold, and left me
without a cent/' replied the heart-broken old man.

It would have been better had they murdered him
in cold blood, for the shock that he received that night
with the loss of the earnings of a life-time no doubt
caused his death.

Up to this time his mind had been as clear and
bright as it had ever been in his younger days, but
now it became unbalanced from meditating and brood-
ing over his sad misfortune. He lingered along for
two or three months and died, his mind gradually giv-
ing away.

There is still an outstanding reward of three hundred
dollars for the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators
of this midnight robbery.

We close this chapter without giving the general
public all the facts known in regard to the parties
committing the crime, as officers are now working
hard on this case with a fair chance of success.

CHAPTER XXX.

WHIPPING OF MRS. MARY BRKEDEN AND HER
DAUGHTERS.

In the write-up of the White-caps and their depreda-
tions in Sevier County, it has not been the purpose of
the writer to give full and detailed accounts of all the
minor offenses committed by them.

It would take a volume of more than one thousand
pages to give such accounts, and do the subject
justice, there frequently occurring more than a dozen
whippings in a single night. Such being the case, the
writer is content to give an account of only such whip-
pings as proved fatal to the unfortunate victims.

The whipping of Mrs. Mary Breeden and her
daughters, Bell and Martha, is a case of unparalleled
cruelty, and shows the depravity of the human heart.

One Saturday night about the middle of May, 1893,
the inmates of the Breeden home were aroused from
their peaceful slumber by the footsteps of unknown
parties surrounding the house and the captain of the
band calling :

" Oh ! Jes, Oh ! Jes ! get up we want to see you."
Jes was Mrs. Breeden's oldest child and only son, a
young man of good character and exemplary habits,
who struggled hard for the support of his widowed
mother and her large family of children. The White-
caps had not given the Breeden family any previous
notice, as was their custom, and the unsuspecting young
man opened wide the door of their humble cabin home.

THE WHITE-CAPS. l8l

He was greatly surprised to find the yard full of
masked men, who, quick as a flash, covered him with
their guns.

He was asked if the house belonged to him or his
mother.

" It belongs to mother I guess, as I am not married,"
he replied.

Eight of their number came in the house and while
four of them kept the young man covered with their
revolvers, threatening to blow his heart out if he
moved, the other four proceeded to drag Miss Bell, the
oldest daughter, from her bed and took her out into
the yard in her night apparel. Two men each
taking her by the hand, held her arms outstretched at
full length, while two others, one on each side, gave
her a most cruel and unmerciful beating.

The young woman felt the sting of the cruel lash
laid upon her bare back and made a desperate effort to
free herself from the death-like grasp of hellish
demons. But all to no purpose. She was powerless
in the hands of this heartless band of base cowards
whose deeds were as dark as hell its self. Her punish-
ment was only more severe for the efforts she made to
escape such cruel treatment.

In the meantime, however, Mrs. Breeden, with a
motherly love for her daughter, was interceeding in her
behalf, and begged them in the name of high heaven
to spare her daughter's life. The reply came from the
leader.

" G — d d — m you. Hush ! " " It will be your time
next."

1 82 THE WHITE-CAPS.

Miss Bell was led back into the house writhing in
pain ; the blood stains clearly visible through her night
gown.

Miss Martha was next taken into the yard and
forced to go through the same trjing ordeal except
her punishment was not so severe.

Again Mrs. Breeden interceeded in behalf of her
younger daughter, which did no good however, but
rather had a tendency to infuriate the mob.

Next in turn came Mrs. Breeden, who, in like
manner, received the same punishment as her two
daughters, except that it exceeded theirs in severity.

. Of all the heinous crimes committed by this lawless
band, there is none, perhaps, that equals in point of
brutality the whipping of old Mrs. Breeden, except
the murder of William and Laura Whaley.

Mrs. Breeden had just passed her sixtieth year, and
was a hard-working inoffensive old lady. She had
evidently had a hard struggle through life to support
her large family of children. And her two oldest
daughters, Bell and Martha, who were rather hand-
some, had been her tender care for many years. And
now, to stand by and see those two beautiful rose buds
which she had so long watched over and cared for,
plucked from the bush, as it were, when just bursting
into full bloom of hope, and dragged from under the
parental roof in their night apparel, and subjected to .a
cruel beating, was more than she could endure. Al-
though she realized the situation, and knew full well
that to utter one word in their defence, was treading
upon dangerous ground, yet moved by the impulse of
a motherly love, she entered a protest against such

THE WHITE-CAPS. 183

cruel treatment. She strongly denied that her two
daughters were living in adultery, as they were accused
of doing, and branded them as base cowards for over-
powering a woman. For this she was cursed and
abused, and then, in turn, was dragged into the yard
where she received a fatal whipping.

The scene of this whipping is one that will ever live
in the minds of those who witnessed it, and which, no
doubt, the perpetrators thereof would like to blot from
their memories forever. Although they may attempt
to escape from the recollections of this awful crime by
roaming in distant lands, yet they can never escape
those nightly visions that hover around the bedside
and prey upon the mind of a heartless wretch who
would commit a crime like this. They can never close
their eyes upon such a ghastly scene, but like a fairy
phantom, it will ever follow their wandering footsteps
through the busy scenes of this life, and haunt them
where ever they may be.

It was indeed a most heartrending scene. Enough
to arouse the sympathies of the most hardened crimi-
nal, and melt into tears a heart of stone. The withes
used in this whipping were black gum of an unusual
size, being at least three-fourths of an inch in diameter
at the larger end, and with the knots left on them.
When they lapped across the shoulders of the poor un-
fortunate woman the knots cut great gashes in her
flesh. She had upbraided them for their cruelty and cow-
ardice in overpowering and punishing her two daughters,
and they in turn determined to make an example of
her to teach others what it was to reprove them for
their lawless deeds. Blow after blow in quick succes-
sion was laid upon her body, while she screamed at

1 84 THE WHITE-CAPS.

the top of her voice for help. And while writhing in
great agony, struggling alone to free herself from the
clutches of this heartless band of desperadoes, one of
their own men, whose heart was touched by the horri-
ble scene came to her rescue.

He had stood back in the dark, and up to this time
had taken no part in the proceedings. He boldly
stepped to the front and in a commanding voice said :

" Don't strike her another lick." " I know this old
lady and she dosen't deserve such treatment as this."

A controversy arose between them, and they were
about to proceed with the whipping, when he suddenly
pulled from his pocket a revolver and said :

" I'll shoot the head off of the first man that strikes
her another lick, if I die the next minute."

Although these words were spoken in a stern com-
manding voice, yet they fell upon the ears of the terror-
stricken family like a gleam of sunshine in the midst
of a raging storm. It had the desired effect upon his
companions in crime. Although a White-cap, he is to
be commended for this brave and courageous act.

The poor woman, now more dead than alive, was re-
leased and assisted back into the house with the blood
trickling down her back, and dripping upon the
ground.

We now turn to the young man "Jesse," who was
closely guarded by four well armed men. He had
stood by and seen his two sisters ruthlessly dragged
from their sleeping couches, and the unmerciful whip-
ping which followed. Now he was forced to stand by
and witness a scene which was most touching and

DETECTIVE C. W. McCAU,.
(Now Deputy United States Marshal.)

THE WHITE-CAPS. 185

heart-rending ; one that but few men have ever experi-
enced— the whipping of his aged mother.

No doubt the young man's mind went back o'er
many years, and the halcyon days of childhood rose
up in a vision before him as one by one he recalled the
passing events mingled with joys and sorrows, when
by day he played 'round the door of their lowly cabin
and at night was rocked to sleep in the arms of an
affectionate mother. These same arms, that so often
had been clasped around her first born and only boy,
now held outstretched by two strong men, while two
hellish demons applied the cruel lash that forever
sealed the fate of Mrs. Breeden and sent her to an un-
timety grave.

Such was the scene that the young man gazed upon
while the tears trickled down his manly face.

Quick as a flash he tore loose from one of the men
who had .him in charge, in a determined effort to
rescue his mother. Instantly four revolvers were
thrust in his face, one' of them so close that it almost
touched his cheek. At this juncture, while looking
down the barrel of the gleaming revolver he recognized
his own weapon which he had taken to Jesse Robin-
son's shop for repairs only few days previous.

Thus the young man was powerless to render assist-
ance to the bewailing mother. Had it not been for
the timely interference of one of their own men, as
stated heretofore, no doubt Mrs. Breeden would have
been left lying prostrate upon the ground a lifeless
corpse.

During the whipping Mrs. Breeden's hair came
down and fell in a loose mass over her shoulders.

1 86 THE WHITE-CAPS.

When the neighbors appeared on the scene next
morning they found short pieces of the withes, some
four or five inches long, which had broken off and were
lying upon the ground, wrapped with hair and stained
with blood.

They found Mrs. Breeden suffering terribly from her
ghastly wounds. During the night the blood had
dried and left her clothing sticking fast to her back.
Several applications of warm water were made before
it could be removed, and even then not without under-
going great pain.

To say that the neighbors who witnessed this scene
were indignant, would be putting it in exceedingly
mild terms — they were simply furious. White-caps
were denounced in the most bitter terms and threats
were freely made.

Shortly after this occurence an organization sprang
up known as " Blue-Bill's," so called by the White-
caps, the purpose of which was to defeat the plans of
the White-caps. As stated in d preceeding chapter,
they differed from the White-caps in the fact that they
took no oath and wore no masks. They did not care
to cover their faces to put down a crime like that of
white-capping.

The term " Blue Bill " applied not alone to those
who joined that organization, but any good citizen
who had courage enough to denounce white-capism,
was by the White-caps called a " Blue Bill."

We have digressed a little, but now return to the
subject at hand.

Mrs. Breeden gradually grew worse and was never
again, after the whipping, able to leave her room. She

THE WHITE-CAPS. 187

lingered along between life and death for a little more
than two months, and on August the 4th., 1893,
breathed her last. Dr. J. A. Henderson, who was not
her family physician, but, one of the most skillful
physicians in Sevier County, was called in a few days
before she died. After a careful examination, he told
her she could not hope to live but a few days. And
gave it as his opinion that the unmerciful whipping
which she had received on that fatal Saturday night
was the sole cause of her untimely death. She told
him that the Furgason boys were along that night and
that one or both of them had done the whipping and
were responsible for her death. The sad story detailed
by this poor unfortunate woman, while lying upon her
death bed, with only a faint hold upon life, touched
the heart of Dr. J. A. Henderson. It no doubt was
the incentive and moving power that actuated him in
his perilous undertaking of organizing an armed force
to put down white-capping.

As has been stated in a previous chapter, he was the
organizer and leader of an armed force call Blue Bills,
And up to the time of his death, perhaps, did more to-
retard the progress of white-capism than any other one
man in Sevier County. He was a shrewd man, and a
natural born leader, and the White-caps would sooner
tread upon the tail of a deadly rattler than to know
that he was on their trail. He was a veritable thorn
in their flesh.

When Dr. Henderson returned to Sevierville and re-
lated the circumstances of the whipping and death of
Mrs. Breeden, it touched the hearts of all who heard it,,
and many of them signified their willingness to go at a
moments warning to meet the White-caps on their
raids, and avenge this cruel deed.

1 88 THE WHITE-CAPS.

The alleged cause for this whipping was that the
Breeden girls were living in adultery. And from the
best information that can be had we do not doubt the
truthfulness of this accusation as to Miss Bell, while
some say that Miss Martha was a virtuous woman.
The two Breeden girls were very intelligent and were
rather good looking. Miss Martha was married soon
after the whipping to a respectable and substantial cit-
izen and has ever since lived a virtuous life. The old
lady who died defending the virtue of her two
daughters, was herself never accused of being a lewed
woman.

We close this chapter by briefly referring to one
other incident in connection with the Breeden family.

About three years after the first whipping another
attempt was made to whip the Breeden girls, who were
then living on Patrick Johnson's land in the house
with their brother Jesse Breeden. The door was bat-
tered down, and Jesse well remembering the fate of his
mother, made his escape at a back window. He went
dashing down the road in the direction of Johnson's
yelling for help. Johnson asked him what on earth
was the matter.

"The White-caps are murdering my two sisters,"
he replied,

Johnson was no friend to the White-caps, and
snatching his trusty revolver, hastened to the scene
of the trouble. The house sets close by the roadside
on the East, and two or three White-caps were left on
the lower side of the house to guard the road. They
saw Johnson coming and opened fire on him at once,
but without effect, as he still kept coming.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 189

The main body of the White-caps were on the upper
side of the house making preparations for the whipping.
Those on the lower side unable to hold their position,
called for help :

" Come around here quick, I tell you, " Pad," John-
son is coming."

" G — d d — m him, shoot h — 1 out of him," was the
reply, and they all came to the front side and fired at
him.

But " Pad," as he was familiarly known, was not the
man to leave dust in the road behind him at the first
onslaught of a White-cap battle.

Up to this time he had not fired a single shot, and now
began to pour it into them as fast as he could pull the
trigger. The White-caps fired one more volley and
fled in dismay, leaving " Pad" master of the situation.

I will follow them one step farther before I close
this chapter. The White-caps had shot out their am-
munition and went immediately in search of more. They
called at James Brown's store at Sinking Springs, for a
new supply. Mr. Brown had retired, but thinking it was
some of his neighbor boys, got up to get it for them.
The night was dark and he unlocked the store door,
walked behind the counter and lit a lamp. Imagine
his surprise when he found his store standing full of
masked men instead of neighbor boys. They de-
manded from him a full supply of ammunition, saying:

" We have shot out once to night, either at a man
or his image we don't know which for we could not hit
him, but we are going back to try him again."

"Take off your masks," replied Mr. Brown, "and
I will sell you all the ammunition you want."

THE WHITE-CAPS.

"We don't have to buy it" replied the leader,
walking towards the back end of the house where Mr.
Brown's Winchester was setting. Mr. Brown took in
the situation at a glance and in an instant stood grasp-
his gun while the White-caps went flying out the door.

The writer well remembers the circumstance, but can-
not now recall the day of the week, but it must have
been Friday night, at least it was an unlucky night
for White-caps.

CHAPTER XXXI.

RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE.

There is another sad death, which, by some, is at-
tributed to the whipping of old Mrs. Breeden. And
we deem it proper to relate it in this connection.

About a year after this whipping, William Furgason
was found dead one morning in his father-in-law's
barn. He had a bullet hole in his temple and a pistol
was found lying by his side. As to how he came to
his death, opinion seems to be about equally divided.

His relatives and close friends say he committed
suicide. While many of his neighbors take a different
view of it, and say that he was killed in a White-cap
raid.

How this is, the writer is unable to say, but will
give both versions, and leave the reader to draw his
own conclusions.

William Furgason was a bright young man, but un-
fortuntely, was somewhat addicted to drink.

After the whipping and death of Mrs. Breeden, it
seemed as though life held no special inducements, and
death no terror for him. His once happy life now
seemed to be shrouded in darkness. His smiling face
ceased to be so bright, and the gay, merry life of the
blithe young man, had seemingly, come suddenly to
an end. His life was overshadowed. He was living
under a cloud. He was down-cast and down-hearted,
carrying a secret in his bosom, the concealment of

1 92 THE WHITE-CAPS.

which was torturing him, yet he dared not reveal it.
He was sadly in need of sympathy. To enlist the
sympathy of his friends he must reveal his secret, and
disclose the facts that would unvail the mistery sur-
rounding the whipping of a helpless woman, and
connect him with that fatal Saturday night tragedy.
This he could never do, as it would not only incrimi-
nate himself, but also a violation of the White-cap
oath. To violate the White-cap oath meant certain
death. Thus the young man was held in almost
breathless suspense. He must go through life with his
lips sealed forever, guarding a secret that was render-
ing his life almost intolerable.

The dreary months went by, the clouds overshadow-
ing his life grew darker and darker as time slowly
dragged along. Yet he still guarded his secret, hoping
for relief from some source, until finally hope became
a torturing suspense, suspense depened into dispair
and dispair darkened into death. He at last ventured
to tell a friend that he could no longer endure life in
this country, that the image of old Mrs. Breeden was
haunting him day and night. When he would
close his eyes at night for sleep, instead of that quiet
gentle repose wafting him into dreamland, there came
floating upon the breeze the image of old Mrs. Breeden,
her horrible shrieks and pitious cries would arouse him
from an unquiet slumber, and he could see he care-
worn face just as it appeared to him on that fatal
Saturday night when she begged them in the name of
high heaven to spare her life.

There are times in a man's life when it seems as
though all the sorrows and griefs of a life time are con-

THE WHITE-CAPS. 193

densed and crowded into a single moment. Such was
the life of William Furgason.

He suddenly disappeared. His friends knew noth-
ing of his departure. In a few days, however, he
turned up at his brother's home in Texas. He did not
tarry long in Texas, only remaining a few days. The
same pitiful cries and hideous screams that had
haunted him around his old home had followed his
wandering footsteps on his long journey to the Lone
Star state, and were still overshadowing his life.

As stated heretofore, his stay in Texas was of short
duration, and no one knew of his intentions to return
home until he was found dead in the barn of his
father-in-law.

His father-in-law, Mr. Gilreath, who was not in
any way connected with the Whith-caps, naturally
supposed that he had committed suicide, which, per-
haps was true. 'But others who stand in a position to
know, say positively that such was not the case. They
say that no blood was found, and that his face was
not black with powder, and his hat, also, could not be
found. All of which went to show that he had not
committed sucide.

On this very identical night a White-cap raid was
made into Nunn's Cove in the neighborhood of Fair
Garden, on the south side of French Broad river, and
some twelve or fifteen miles from the Furgason home.

It was customary with the White-caps when any one
was to be whipped living on the south side of the
river, that the raiders come from the north side to do
the whipping. And the same rule applied, as far as it
was practical, when a whipping occurred on the north
side.

194 THE WHITE-CAPS.

It is a well known fact that James Furgason, brother
of William, was captain and leader of the band on the
north side of the river. And it is said that they were
out in full force on the night of the whipping refurred
to in Nunn's Cove.

For several years there was very little known about
this raid except that Catherine Allen was whipped and
that the White-caps were fired upon while standing in
her yard after the whipping. The White-caps could
not afford to divulge anything concerning this affray,
neither could the parties who had fired upon them. It
was during the palmy days of white-capism, and they
realized the fact that their lives depended on a still
tongue. They, therefore, guarded their secret like a
miser would guard his gold.

But after the White-cap band was broken up and
their organization had gone to pieces they were no
longer afraid to talk, and the writer was made ac-
quainted with all the facts and circumstances by a
detailed account from both the men who participated
and by a visit to the scene of the conflict.

Catherine Allen had been notified by the White-caps
that she would be waited on in the near future. Ac-
cordingly, Dr. J. A. Henderson was notified of the fact
and preparations were made to intercept, and, if possi-
ble, capture the whole band. The spy in the White-
cap camps, was also, to go along in order that he
might not be suspected, and to fall behind at a certain
point designated by Dr. Henderson. Two hundred
yards from Catherine Allen's home, the road is dug out
from the side of a hill. On the east is a number of large
trees standing close by the roadside, large enough

THE WHITE-CAPS. 195

to conceal a man behind each one of them. This was
the point selected for the battle ground. Every man
was to stand quietly behind a tree, gun in hand, ready
for instant action, until Dr. Henderson gave the com-
mand to the White-caps to halt. In the event the
command was not instantly obeyed they were all to
fire upon them at once.

This plan failed because the spy had not been noti-
fied until late in the evening of the same day that the
whipping was to take place. To late to notify Dr.
Henderson who lived ten miles away, he did, however,
notify T. O. Caughron who lived at Fair Garden, in
the neighborhood where the whipping took place.

Caughron was a man who did not fear a racket, and
although he sometimes came out a little bit disfigured,
he was never known to back down. He had long
wished for an opportunity like this, and when it came,
determined to not let it pass. So in company with only
one other man, armed with Winchesters, they stealthily
slipped along through the dense forests, avoiding att
public roads, and finally arrived at Catherine Allen's.
They secreted themselves in a little clump of bushes
near the house and, in breathless silence, waited
patiently for the attack. It was their intention to
fire on them when they attempted to batter down the
door, but the White-caps came in from the other side
of the house. When they took Catherine Allen out
to whip her, they came out at the back door on the
side where Caughron and his companions were wait-
ing. But they could not fire on them then for fear of
killing the woman. They finished the whipping,
•which was an unmerciful one, and then took her back

196 THE WHITE-CAPS.

in the house and returned to the back yard to rejoin
the balance of the band. This was Caughron's oppor-
tunity and at the same instant two guns fired simul-
taneously. A number of shots followed in quick suc-
cession. The White-caps were taken completely by
surprise and fired only one volley, and then fled from
the scene in great haste.

The two men concealed in the bushes lay flat on
the ground, and it was well they did so. Although
the night was dark yet the White-caps had located
them by the flash of their guns and took good aim.
The bushes just over their heads were literally cut to
pieces with buckshot. The White-caps, some twenty-
five or thirty in number, having been put to flight by
only two men, the firing ceased. Early the next morn-
ing Catherine Allen picked up a hat with a bullet
hole in it which was found lying in the back yard.
She still has possession of the hat to this day, and it is
believed to be William Ferguson's. Hence the bullet
that went crashing through his brain was not fired
from a pistol in his own hands but from a Winchester
in the hands of a deadly enemy.

There is one more theory, however, offered by those
who believe in this version of the story.

They say that his relatives living south of the river
were making preparations by sun-up next morning to-
attend his funeral, long before it was known in his
own neighborhood and, therefore, must have been
notified the night before.

CHAPTER XXXII.

DETECTIVES REEDER AND Me CALL.

It would be highly improper if some space in this
book was not devoted to an acknowledgement of the
valuable services rendered by detectives C. A. Reeder
and C. W. McCall, in the location of witnesses who
from fear of the White-caps, having left Sevier County,
were concealing their identity and place of habitation
in order to successfully avoid processes of law which
would compel them to appear as witnesses in the
Courts of Justice and reveal facts in their knowledge
incriminating members of the White-cap organization
and identifying participants in the many flagrant acts
of lawlessness committed by them.

As stated in a former chapter, deputy sheriff Davis,
appreciating the original methods and ingenuity of
these two officers in their detective work, induced them
to contribute their valuable service.

It will not be drawing too heavily upon the credulity
of a mercenary age, to make the statement, that these
officers were actuated more by a desire to uphold the
majesty of the law and bring to judgment the guilty
parties, than to secure any part of a reward which
might possibly be offered for their conviction.

The brutality exhibited in the Whaley murder ap-
pealed to the sympathy of every law-abiding citizen,
and to the manhood of every officer of the law who
witnessed the ghastly spectacle or were acquainted
with the horrible details.

198 THE WHITE-CAPS.

It was the brutal manner in which the Whaley
murder was committed which inspired so much terror,
and drove from the county citizens who could furnish
convincing evidences of guilt but who, fearing the
same fate as the Whaleys', felt all the terrors and
tortures of criminals from justice.

Many of these witnesses had located in Knoxville.
A plan of work was agreed upon, and the result was
not only a conviction of Pleas Wynn and Catlett for
this murder but other convictions have preceeded
and others will follow this one.

C. A. Reeder is now the efficient chief of the Police
force of Knoxville, Tenn., while C. W. McCall is mak-
ing a reputation as U. S. deputy marshall.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

TRIAL OP W. R. CATLETT AT MORRISTOWN.

Inasmuch as Bob Catlett has been referred to in
former chapters of this book as being the leading spirit
which prompted the Whaley murder, it is thought not
improper, before closing this book, to give its readers
a short history of his recent trial at Morristown, Tenn.,
he having been charged and indicted as an accessory
before the fact for hiring and procuring Pleas Wynn
and Catlett Tipton to murder William and I,aura
Whaley.

No crime ever committed in the county has caused
such popular indignation as this one. It has now been
over two years since its commission, and public senti-
ment, which was at once directed toward Pleas Wynn,
Catlett Tipton and Bob Catlett, has never changed or
abated in the least ; but, on the contrary, it has in-
creased and become more intensified as time passed on
and new discoveries and additional developments have
been made.

Indeed, so intense has become'the sentiment in Sevier
county against Bob Catlett, that at the November term,
1898, of the circuit court at Sevierville, Catlett, through
his counsel, applied for and obtained a change of venue
from Sevier to Hamblen county, on the ground, as set
forth in his sworn petition, that he could not get a fair
trial in Sevier county, so bitter was the feeling against
him in that county.

200 THE WHITE- CAPS.

This was no doubt true, and Judge Nelson granted
the change and directed the papers and proper tran-
scripts to be transmitted to Morristown, where the case
stood for trial at the December term, 1898, of the circuit
court of Hamblen county. At that term the State
announced ready for trial, but the defense was not
ready, and presented the usual affidavit and made a
strong effort to have the case continued till the next
regular, term the fourth Monday in April, 1899, stating
specially in his affidavit that " he could not get ready
to tr}T in thirty days."

Judge Hicks did not force the defendant into trial
then, but refused to continue until the regular April
term, as requested by the defense. By order of the
presiding judge, a special term was ordered to be held
on the first Monday of February, 1899, for the trial of
this case.

For a special reason the state was wanting an early
trial of the case against Catlett, and for the same
reason the attorneys for the defense were vigorously
opposing an early trial. It was this : The cases against
Pleas Wynn and Catlett Tipton had been affirmed by
the supreme court in November and they were sen-
tenced to hang on the fourth day of January, 1899, at
Sevierville. It was understood at this time that Wynn
and Tipton had decided to make a full confession of
the murder and that it implicated Bob Catlett as an
accessory to the crime.

In this view of it the state wanted the testimony of
Wynn and Tipton against Catlett on his trial, while
the latter was more anxious not to have them and
hoped to secure a continuance to a date after the exe-

DETECTIVE C. A. KEEDER.
(Now Chief of Police, Knoxville, Tenn.)

THE WHITE-CAPS. 2OI

cution of Wynn and Tipton, at which time their testi-
mony could not be used against him.

It is true that the sixth day of February, the date
fixed for the special term to try Catlett, was a little
over a month after the day fixed for the execution of
Wynn and Tipton, but the State's officers felt confi-
dent that they could secure a respite from the Gov-
ernor for a sufficient length of time to use Wynn and
Tipton as witnesses at the special term, while they
were not certain that a respite could be obtained
extending beyond a regular term. The State in this
carried both points. That is, it secured a special term
and obtained a respite of time for the witnesses ex-
tending from January the 4th to April the 5th next, at
which latter date they will be hanged unless there is
further interference on the part of the Governor.

The postponement which was asked for and granted
by Governor Taylor was solely for the purpose of using
Wynn and Tipton for witnesses against Catlett, that
justice might be meted out to others, and not as a favor
to Wynn and Tipton nor because it was asked by them
or their friends. It was an act on the part of the
Governor which was almost universally commended
by the people, believing as they did that the informa-
tion which would be forthcoming from Pleas Wyun
and Catlett Tipton would throw new light on one of
the bloodiest tragedies ever perpetrated in the state of
Tennessee.

On the 6th of February the case of Catlett was
called for trial by his Honor Judge Hicks at Morris-
town, and the State announced ready for trial. The
defendant, by affidavit, asked for a further continuance,

202 THE WHITE- CAPS.

on the ground that certain witnesses were not present
and that he could not safely go to trial without them.
This motion was overruled by the court and a jury
ordered empaneled to try the case. Only a few hours
were occupied in securing a jury, and on the morning
of the second day the State began to introduce testi-
mony.

Ivizzie Chandler, an eye witness to the killing and a
sister of Mrs. Whaley, one of the murdered people,
was the first witness introduced on the part of the
State. She told the same story as heretofore detailed
in a previous chapter about two men breaking the
door down and rushing into the Whaley house on
the night of December 28th, 1896, about 7:30 o'clock,
and shooting William Whaley first and then almost
instantly turning and shooting his wife, Laura Whaley,
both of whom died instantly, without ever speaking.
The cruel intruders then retracing their steps left the
house, with only the witness and the infant babe of
the murdered woman left to tell the awful story. The
witness identified Pleas Wynn as one of the men, but
could not identify Tipton further than" to say he in a
general way filled the description of the other man.

After another witness or two were called and exam-
ined by the state, the two condemned men, Pleas
Wynn and Catlett Tipton, were then introduced for
the state and told in detail the blood-curdling story of
the murder of the Whaleys and the plot that was set
on foot and carried out for that purpose.

Inasmuch as a full confession of these two accom-
plices in this crime has not yet been published, we
deem it not inappropriate to insert at this place what
we can vouch for to our readers as being a substantial

THE; WHITE-CAPS. 203

but not a "verbatim statement of these two parties as
told by them in this trial upon the witness stand.

CONFESSION OF PLEAS WYNN.

" I know when the Whaleys were killed in Sevier
county in December, 1896. I was living then in Sevier-
ville, some two miles from the Whaley house. About
dark on the night of the killing, Catlett Tipton and I
met by agreement at Ben Bailey's house in Sevierville.
From there we went to Bailey's shop, where Tipton
worked. There Tipton got his shot gun out of a tool
chest and he and I went down the bank of the west
fork of Pigeon river to the junction of the two rivers.
There we crossed the bridge over the east fork of the
river and went down the north side of the river, along
the bank, till we got even with the Whaley house. We
went up the hollow to within about twenty yards of the
house, and then hearing some parties talking in the
house we stopped, and after waiting a short time one of
us coughed or made a noise. Immediately John Whaley,
brother of William Whaley, came out with a pine
torch and went to the crib near by and did some nail-
ing about the door, went back to the house, and in a
few minutes left and went down the hollow toward
where he lived, a few hundred yards away. Then
Tipton and I masked ourselves and went to the door of
William Whaley 's house, broke it open and entered.

" William Whaley and wife were in the first bed on
the right as we entered, and some one else I did not
know was in another bed. William Whaley jumped
out of bed on the floor and said :

" ' Have you come to kill us ? Do anything else you
want to with us, but don't kill us.'

204 TH® WHITE-CAPS.

" L,aura Whaley got out of bed with her baby in her
arms and went over toward the other bed, saying she
wanted to give her baby to her sister. She gave it to
some one who covered up her head.

"About this time, Catlett Tipton shot William
Whaley, who fell on the floor, and in another moment
he shot Laura Whaley, who had turned to where her
husband was standing when shot. She fell near him
on the floor. Neither of the parties spoke after the}'
were shot. Tipton had a double-barrel shot gun,
No. 1 2, and I had a No. 44 Smith & Wesson pistol. I
did not fire a shot. We turned and walked out of the
house without having spoken a word after we entered
it.

" We next went directly back to Sevierville, crossing
the ridges by a path leading east of Capt. Wynn's and
into the road near J. W. Andes. At the lower end of
Sevierville, at the bridge, Tipton and I separated, he
going to Bailey's shop, as he said, and I going to O. L.
Montgomery's in the upper end of town. I asked
Montgomery if he was going fishing with us and he
said no, that he was sick and could not go. I also
asked the time of night and ascertained that it was
nearly nine o'clock.

" I went back down in town and met Tipton on the
old court house square near the Mitchell corner. From
there we went to Mark McCowan's, a half a mile below
town, called him out and asked him to go fishing with
us. He and his family were sick and he could not go.
We got his canoe and went down the river a short
distance below his house and cast two dynamites into
the river and caught six fish — five suckers and one

THE WHITE-CAPS. 205

salmon. I took the suckers and Tipton the salmon
and we returned to Sevierville. The town clock struck
nine while we were talking to McCowan and ten just
before we got back to town after the fishing. I stayed
at home the rest of the night.

" I was well acquainted with the situation about the
Whaley house. It was on my father's farm, and I
lived in the house about two years myself. I knew
William Whaley tolerably well, and I knew his wife
when I saw her. I never had any trouble with either
of them nor ill will against them. Neither of them
ever did me any harm, so far as I know.

" I know the defendant, Bob Catlett. Have known
him nearly all my life. I saw him on the morning
before the Whaleys were killed. He came into Sevier-
ville with some horses and went to Loveday's stable
and put them up. I met him in the street and went
to the stable with him. From there we went to M. R.
Rawling's saddle shop, where I helped Catlett fix his
saddle girth. We were there some little time. No
one was with us. We then went to Fred Emert's
store, then to Trotter's hardware store, next to John
Yett's store, and finally to West Emert's store, trying
to buy a certain kind of whip that Catlett wanted. I
went to W. R. Montgomery's office and tried to get
one from him, as he had what Catlett wanted.

" We then returned to L,oveday's stable, where
Catlett's horses were. While there, Catlett took me
back into the stable in a side room, and there he men-
tioned to me the first time about putting the Whaleys
out of the way. He asked me if I had had a talk with
Catlett Tipton lately, and if I had agreed to go to a

206 THE WHITE-C*APS.

certain place with him. I told him I had talked with
him and had agreed to go. He told me he had agreed
to -pay Tipton fifty dollars to kill the Whaleys, pay his
lawyer's fees and keep Ihim out of jail if anything
should be found out on him. He said that Whaley
and his wife were witnesses against him and he wanted
them killed so they could not testify against him, and
he wanted it done that night, while he was away, so
he would not be suspected and could prove where he
was. He left Sevierville with four horses, about
twelve o'clock, I think, saying he was going to Rolen's
that night.

"I saw J. M. Catlett, brother of Bob Catlett, that
same evening. He, Tipton and myself had a talk at a
blacksmith shop near the old jail place in Sevierville
that evening. No one else was present. Catlett said
that Bob had left fifty dollars with him to be paid
when the Whaley 's were put out of the way. Jim
Catlett was drinking that evening. The second day
after the killing, as I now remember, Tipton paid me
twenty-five dollars. This is all I ever got for the part
I took in that murder.

" I was arrested, tried and convicted with Tipton for
the killing of the Whaleys. We appealed our case to
the supreme court and there it was affirmed."

On cross-examinaticn, Wynn stated that he was now
confined in the Knox county jail and had been for
some time, awaiting the date of his execution. He
was a witness for himself in his own trials and had
sworn he did not have any hand in killing the
Whaleys and did not know who did ; that testimony
was all false : he made those statements to get out of

THE WHITE-CAPS. 207

trouble and to save his life. He had made a partial
confession in the Knoxville jail some time ago, but
never authorized it published. It was partly, but not
altogether, true. He decided to make a full and true
confession of the whole matter about the last of
December, 1898, at the request and in the presence of
his wife and a minister of the gospel, and that is the
statement he now had made to the court and jury. It
was true that no promise had been made to him by
any one as an inducement to make it. It was purely
a voluntary statement.

He could not say that he now had any hope of
escaping the sentence of death pronounced against
him.

CONFESSION OF J. CATLETT TIPTON.

" I was born and raised in Sevier county ; am about
38 years old. In December, 1896, I was living about
two miles from Sevierville, but was at that time stay-
ing with Ben Bailey, my brother-in-law, and working
in the blacksmith shop with him. I know the defen-
dant, Bob Catlett and have known him pretty much
all my life.

" On the Saturday evening that the November term
of the circuit court adjourned, Bob Catlett came to me
and said he wanted to have a talk with me. We
went into Fred Emert's store and upstairs into a back
room. He there told me that William Whaley and
wife had gone before the grand jury at that term of
court and had indicted him and Bob Wade, his brother-
in-law, for shooting into Walter Maples' house. He
said he wanted them put out 'of the way and would
give one hundred dollars to kill them, that he wanted

208 THE WHITE-CAPS.

to make an example of them to teach people that they
could not swear against him. I told him I did not
want to do it and would not do it. This was about
all that occurred there, and we went out of the store.
Bob Wade was present during this conversation.

" There was a meeting of an Odd Fellows lodge
that Saturday night at Pigeon Forge, about eight
miles above Sevierville. Wm. Wynn, Jesse Atchley
and I went to it, leaving Sevierville that evening. I
went in a buggy with Wm. Wynn, I think. Some
time after the lodge had been in session. Bob Catlett
and Bob Wade came in. That is the first time I ever
knew Catlett or Wade in that lodge and have never
seen them there since. It was about fourteen miles
from there to where Catlett lived. As we were return-
ing from the lodge that night, I stopped on the road
near Henderson's Island at a turnip patch and got
some turnips and distributed them among the crowd.

" There were several along, including Bob Catlett,
Bob Wade, Arthur Seaton, Schuyler Atchley, Jesse
Atchley and Wm. Wynn. Wade and Catlett were
riding horse-back, and when ready to leave the turnip
patch, Bob Catlett suggested to Wade that he take my
seat in the buggy and for me to get on Wade's horse,
as he wanted to talk with me. This change was
accordingly made and I rode from there to Rambo's
lane, about three miles, with Bob Catlett.

" On this trip he again brought up the subject of
the Whaleys and renewed his proposition to me to put
them out of the way for, him. I told him I did not
want to do it, but before leaving me near the Rambo
lane, he handed me an envelope and said for me to

THE WHITE-CAPS. 2OQ

take it and that it was mine when the Wbaleys were
put out of the way.

• ' I took the package and went on home alone from
that point. I examined the contents of the envelope
and found it consisted of four twenty dollar bills and
one twenty dollar gold piece. I kept the money until
the next Wednesday evening, and then I took it to
Yett's store in Sevierville and gave it to J. R. Yett
and told him to put it in his safe for me a short time.
I let it stay there until Friday following, when I got
it and gave it back to Bob Catlett, saying to him at
the time that I had decided not to do the job and
returned his money. Catlett replied that he was glad
of it for he could get it done for one-half of that
amount.

" It was not long, however, until Catlett returned to
to me again and began to beg me to comply with his
wishes by putting the Whaleys out of the way. I
guess, in all, he must have come to me some twelve
or fifteen different times, and I at last consented to
kill the Whaleys for him, for which he agreed to pay
me fifty dollars, and, if I got into any trouble over it,
he was to pay my attorney's fees and keep me out of
jail by making bond for me. On one occasion I told
Catlett I had spoken to Pleas Wynn to go with me
and that he had agreed to go. He asked me if I
thought Pleas would be all right and I told him I did.
It was agreed that Catlett should go south with some
stock and that the Whaleys should be killed while he
was gone, in order that he might not be suspicioned.

" Catlett went through Sevierville on Monday morn-
ing, the 28th of December, 1896, with some horses, and
as he was going out of Sevierville, near the upper end

210 THE WHITE-CAPS.

of town and about opposite the Southern Methodist
church, I met him and helped him straighten out one
of his horses. While there he said to me :

" ' Be certain and attend to that job tonight ! '

" Jim Catlett, a brother of Bob, told me that even-
ing that Bob had left the money with him to pay for
killing [the Whaleys, whenever the work was done,
and that he (Jim) would pay the money. This talk
was had in the presence of Pleas Wynn near the old
jail place in Sevierville.

"That night, the 28th of December, 1896, Pleas
Wynn and I by agreement met at Ben Bailey's, in
Sevierville, and about dark we left there, going first
to Bailey's shop near the bank of the west fork of
the Pigeon river. There I got my shot gun out of
my tool chest, together with some cartridges. Leaving
the shop, we went down the bank of said river to the
point or junction of the two rivers, and crossing the
bridge over the east fork of the river we proceeded
down the bank of said river on the north side to the
Capt. Wynn farm. When we got even with the
Whaley house, we left the river and went up the hol-
low to where the Whaleys lived. We stopped a short
distance from the house. We saw a light in the house
and heard some one talking within. Wynn, as I now
remember, made a noise by coughing and a man who
I suppose was John Whaley came out with a light and
did some fixing about the crib door. He returned to
the house, and in a short time left.

" Wynn and I then masked ourselves heavily and
proceeded to the house, where the door was bursted
open and we entered the house. I had my shot gun
and Wynn had a pistol. I 'there killed both Whaley

THE WHITE-CAPS. 211

and his wife by shooting them in the head. I never
spoke to anyone after I entered the house, nor did
either William or Laura Whaley speak after ,they were
shot, to my knowledge. I reloaded my gun and then
Wynn and I returned to Sevierville.

" We did not return as we went, but took a nearer
route across the ridges, coming into the road near
where the Andes boys live, just below Sevierville. I
took my gun back to the shop and put it in the tool
chest and got some dynamite I had there and met
Pleas Wynn near the Mitchell corner in town. He
said he had been to Otis Montgomery's.

" From there we went to Mark McCowan's, a half-
mile below town, called him out, talked to him awhile
and asked him to go fishing with us, but he declined,
saying his folks were sick. We got his canoe and went
down the river a short distance and dropped two sticks
of dynamite in the river. The result was we got six
fish — one salmon and five suckers. We took the
canoe back to the bank and left it where McCowan
told us to. Before leaving the canoe we there burned
our masks. We then went on to Sevierville, where
we divided the fish, he taking the five suckers and I
the salmon. I went to Ben Bailey's, where I boarded,
and went to bed, and I suppose Wynn went home.

"I was barely acquainted with Wm. Whaley;
knew him when I saw him. I never saw Laura
Whaley until the night she was killed. I never had
had any trouble with either one of them, and had no
ill will or malice toward them.

" Jim Catlett came to Sevierville the next day after
the Whaleys were killed and paid me the fifty dollars,

212 THE WHITE-CAPS.

according to agreement, and on the following day (I
think it was) I gave Pleas Wynn half of it.

" When I gave the package of money to J. R. Yett
to deposit in his safe for me, Wm. Marshall and Miller
Yett were present, and when I took it away George
Nichols and one or two others were present. I never
deposited money or anything else with J. R. Yett &
Co. at any other time, to my recollection."

On cross-examination, Tipton in answer to questions
from Mr, McSween said :

" I am now and have been for a good while confined
in the Knoxville jail. I swore some three or four
times when on trial myself that I did not kill the
Whaleys and that I did not know who did ; that if
Bob Catlett had anything to do with it I did not know
it. But that was false ; I swore it to save my life and
to get out of my trouble, if I could. I have not been
promised anything nor given to understand that my
sentence would be commuted if I would make a state-
ment implicating Bob Catlett in the murder of the
Whaleys. I was advised by my friends that if I knew
anything about the Whaley murder I ought to tell it,
and I decided a short time ago that I would tell the
whole story as I knew it, and this I have done on tne
witness stand today. It is the truth."

The state introduced a large number of witnesses
corroborating the testimony of both Wynn and Tipton,
and witnesses showing threats of Bob Catlett against
the Whaleys, prior to the time they were killed. The
state then rested.

The defense opened their case by putting the defen-
dant on the stand, who promptly denied all statements

THE WHITE-CAPS. 213

and incriminating testimony of both Wynn and Tip-
ton. He also denied making threats against the
Whaleys, but he [admitted that he and Bob Wade
were in Sevierville on the Saturday evening that
court adjourned, when Tipton says he talked with
them in Emert's store, and also that they went to
Pigeon Forge lodge that night. He does not deny
being with Pleas Wynn at Loveday's stable and other
places on the morning before the killing, but denied
talking to him about the killing of the Whaleys. The
above substantially was his statement.

J, M. Catlett and Bob Wade, both of whom are im-
plicated in the murder, denied all statements affecting
them in any way as was expected.

This was about all the testimony introduced on the
part of the defense and amounted to a simple denial of
the charges.

J. M. Catlett admitted that he was in Sevierville the
next day after the killing, but denied that he paid
Catlett Tipton fifty dollars, or any other amount that
day, as Tipton swore he paid. Catlett denied that he
had that much money that day, and denied that he got
any at the bank that day.

The defense then closed it case, and the state intro-
duced A. T. Marshall, assistant Cashier of the Bank_o
Sevierville, on rebuttal to the evidence of J. M. Catlett,
who testified that he paid said J. M. Catlett on that
day, the 29th. of December, fifty dollars, and the bank
books so showed it. With this the state closed its
case, Thursday at 12 o'clock.

It is proper to announce here, that in this famous
trial, the state was represented by Att'y. Gen. G. M.

214 THE WHITE- CAPS.

Henderson, J. R. Penland, Esq., of Sevierville; Hollo-
way and Hodges, of Morristown ; and Gen. J. C. J.
Williams, of Knoxville. While the defendant was
represented by W. J. McSween, of Newport ; Hon.
Geo. I*. Zirkle and Mullendore & Son, of the Sevier-
ville bar ; Shields & Mountcastle, and W. S. Dixon,
Esq., of the Morristown bar. The argument was
limited to three speeches, and four hours of time to
each side.

The states' case was opened in a two hours argu-
ment by J. R. Penland, Esq., with a strong presenta-
tion of the facts showing a thoroughness in detail
seldom observed in a great law-suit like this. His
speech was an agreeable surprise to many, and freely
commented upon as being not only fair, but able and
aggressive in its presentation.

This argument was followed by Judge John K.
Shields, who opened the case for the defense. Judge
Shields is one of the ablest and best known lawyers in
East Tennessee. He presented the law and the rules
governing the trial of cases of this sort, and made
an able argument on the facts, closing with a strong
appeal to the Jury for the life of the defendant. His
able speech was no surprise to those who knew him
and did not lessen their opinion of him as a great
lawyer.

Hon. John B. Holloway presented in an able manner
the law of the case for the state, and made an earnest
and dignified argument in support of the prosecution.
It was free from objections, and strictly within the
record, showing not only the ability, but the fairness
of the man who made it.

THE WHITE-CAPS. 215

The second speaker for the defense, was W. S. Dixon,
Esq., a Jury lawyer of recognized ability in Tennessee,
who made an able and persuasive argument in favor of
his client. His argument was clear cut, and showed
the lawyer at every stage of its presentation.

But the principle argument for the defense was per-
haps made by Mr. McSween, of Newport. McSween
had been connected with the case as Catlett's counsel
from the time he was first arrested, and hence was famil-
iar with the case from its inception, and was also counsel
for Wynn and Tipton. He spoke for nearly two hours,
and his style and manner was bold and aggressive in
the extreme. His attack on state witnesses was
terrific, and especially was this so in reference to Wynn
and Tipton, the confessed principals in the murder.
His speech may have caught the ear of the jury, but
it was certainly too extreme to meet a favorable
response from the large audience present, and particu-
larly those who had heard the evidence in the case.
His effort was a supreme one, and from the premises
assumed by him, his argument was a strong one. He
made a strong appeal in closing, for the life of the
defendant, and in fact, much of his speech was made
in the nature of an appeal rather than an argument.

General Henderson made the closing argument for
the state. It was looked to with more than ordinary
interest ; first, because of his well known ability as a
lawyer, and second, because of the character of the
speeches just preceding and the bitter onslaught made
on the prosecution. Interest and expectation ran
high. No man ever had a more favorable opportunity
to make a profound impression by a speech than did
General Henderson at this time ; and in this he did

2l6 THE WHITE -CAPS.

not disappoint his friends nor the public. He was
equal to the occasion and more than met the expecta-
tions of the most sanguine. He used the sword of
criticism with fine effect in parrying the blows of the
enemy. He met and answered in the most dignified
manner what he termed unfair and unjust attacks
made upon the officers of the law and state witnesses
in the case. He showed up the weakness of the
defense with the skill and tact of a true lawyer and
closed the case with an appeal so powerful and effec-
tive that it wrung tears from the eyes of scores of
persons present, and as he took his seat the large
audience broke into cheering which had to be sup-
suppressed by the court and his officers.

.While General Henderson was cut short in the
time allotted him by some misunderstanding of coun-
sel for the defense, yet he never made a better speech
in his life, and perhaps never will be able to surpass
it in the future. It was a great speech in a great
law suit.

His Honor, Judge Hicks, gave his charge to the
jury on Friday evening, and on Saturday morning
about nine o'clock they reported a disagreement. By
consent of counsel on both sides, the court discharged
the jury and entered a mistrial.

While it is much to be regretted that the trial just
passed through did not settle the case one way or the
other, and while the result was, in our judgement,
a great disappointment to the general public who
heard the trial and knew the facts, yet no reflection is
here meant to be cast upon the jury who tried the
case. The presumption is that they acted from an

THE WHITE- CAPS. 21 J

honest and conscientious standpoint, and this being
true no one has a right to complain.

It was a great law suit and a greet battle which will
have to be fought over again. The case will stand for
trial at the regular April term, 1899.

By that ' time, Wyiin and Tipton will have been
hung, unless there should be an additional postpone-
ment of the day of execution. But they, having once
been examined in the case as witnesses, their evidence
may be reproduced in future trials, should they, in the
meantime, suffer the penalty of the law.

The public are much interested in the final result of
this case and are looking forward to it as the last
chapter growing out of the bloody White- cap murders
in Sevier county.

THE END.

GREER MACHINERY CO.

Wholesale and Retail Dealers in

Agricultural Implements «

and Machinery.

Wood-Working Machinery, Planers and Matchers, Saw Mills, Portable and

Stationary Engines, Threshers, Corn and Wheat Mills, Harvesting

Machinery, Mowers and Reapers, Grain Drills, Disc Harrows,

Stock, Platform and Counter Scales, Circular Saws, etc.

to Hammer's

Candy Kitchen

- - FOR - -

FINE CANDIES,

Soda Waters, Ice Cream, &c.

KNOXVIL.L-E,

C R. LOVE & CO.
FARM MACHINERY

AND

Agricultural Implements.

GEISER MANFG. CO.

GENERAL AGENTS: SUPERIOR DRILL CO.

D. M. OSBORNE & CO.
400 to 406 Jaokson Street,

ARCADE HOTEL,

J. L. MORGAN, Proprietor.
The First-class $J.OO and $1.50 a day Hotel.

SINGLE MEALS, 25 CENTS.

524 and 526 GAY STREET,
KNOXVILLE, j* TENNESSEE.

• 5 0

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